


Suppose You Get to Another World

by illa_dixit, Luxord52



Category: Disney - All Media Types, Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VIII, Kingdom Hearts
Genre: AU: Raised by Moogles, Alternate Universe, Everyone gets adventures!, Gen, Genderfluid Character, Nonbinary Character, Riku's Terrible Horrible No Good Very Bad Day, The Keyblade Training Kairi Deserves, now with art!
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-21
Updated: 2020-03-28
Packaged: 2020-07-09 15:16:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 24
Words: 80,696
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19889950
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/illa_dixit/pseuds/illa_dixit, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Luxord52/pseuds/Luxord52
Summary: Alternate Universe where the Keyblade War works differently, and Sora, Riku, and Kairi are sent off by desperate parents and guardians as the Frontlines comes to Destiny Islands.Somehow, the Moogles talk Cid into taking into taking in a bunch of eight year olds. But some stories have a way of getting told no matter where they start...(Loosely follows KH1)





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Once upon a time, L (luxord52) and H (illa_dixit), two siblings alike in nerdiness but living an ocean away from each other had some headcanons, which slowly merged into One Big Headcanon, and then eventually multiple google documents and this fic. We hope you enjoy it!
> 
> Rated T because adults curse sometimes, and Cid curses all the time.

**Everybody's Got Problems**

“Sora, you lazy bum,” Kairi scolds, laughing, “I knew I’d find you snoozing down here!”

She leans over her friend, continuing to nudge him gently with the toe of her boot. Sora blinks up at her, sleep fading to confusion before memory comes rushing back.

“Aw, c’mon Kairi, give me a break.”

“Mmmmm, nope.” Kairi decides, and reaches down to haul him to his feet. “We can’t make Riku fix the gummi ship all on their own, y’know.”

Sora stretches, looks around the forest they’ve found themselves in, and sighs. He picks up the gummi block he’d been napping next to and props it on his hip, setting out to follow Kairi, who’s already moving further into the trees.

“Say, Kairi,” he asks, idly scratching the back of his head, “what was your hometown like? Y’know, where you grew up before the isles.”

She doesn’t pause, but calls back. “I’ve told you before, I don’t remember.”

“Nothing at all?”

“Nothing.”

Sora considers this for a few moments, before asking, “You ever wish you could go back?”

“To the isles? Or wherever I came from before that?” Kairi asks, turning around with her hands on her hips.

He shrugs. “Either.”

“I don’t know,” Kairi slumps a little. “Destiny Isles was my home, but… so is Traverse, you know? As long as I’ve got you and Riku, that can be home, right?”

Sora grins at her tentative smile. “Right!”

“I think I’d like to visit it sometime, though.” Kairi says, bending down to scoop up a small piece of gummi block glowing bright yellow on the forest floor. She sticks it in one of the expansive pockets of her shorts. “My original hometown, I mean. Just to see what it was like.”

“Yeah…” Sora elbows her playfully. “This isn’t quite want we had in mind when we thought we’d go exploring the worlds, is it?”

Kairi giggles. “What, you didn’t think we’d get t-boned by a battleship and crash land on an unknown world?”

Their laughter is interrupted by a loud “hey!” as Riku rounds a bend in the path with several large gummi blocks stacked on one shoulder.

“One gummi block?” they ask, teasing, “That’s seriously all the two of you found in the last hour?”

“Kairi found some pieces!” Sora defends, while at the same time Kairi throws him under the metaphorical gummi-bus with “Sora’s been _asleep_ for the last hour!”

Riku bursts out laughing. “That’s so typical, Sora! Stranded on an empty world and you decide to take a nap? It’s just like when we tried to build that raft when we were little.”

“Hey!” Sora complains, but he’s laughing too.

Kairi beams at them both, and grabs Riku’s free hand in her own, looping her remaining arm through Sora’s.

“Alright, let’s go fix up the ship and get back to Cid. I bet if we spin this right we can get extra credit for creative gummi repairs instead of getting scolded for not paying enough attention after we’d gotten the ship off the ground, but we gotta get home within, like, a day for that to fly. Heh, fly, gettit?”

* * *

By the time night falls on the unknown world, the kids have made some progress. They’re definitely still missing blocks, and will have to keep looking in the morning, but they’ve determined that the cockpit gummi is mostly intact, so they should be able to fix the whole thing up without too many delays. As a happy bonus, the emergency rations stored in the cockpit gummi were also left intact, so they haven’t had to try and find food in a new world.

For now, they sleep, curled together under a tall tree none of them could identify.

A dark figure detaches itself from the shadows of the forest, gliding forward silently to peer down at the trio. Eerie green light flickers over the clearing left in the wake of the crash as it holds up a hand and calls forth magical flame. The kids start to stir.

“How interesting…” says Maleficent, and reaches forward.

* * *

“Any word from the kiddos?” Yuffie asks, just for something to get Cid talking. There clearly hasn’t been - he’s sitting staring at the radio on the kitchen table, which has been notably silent for several hours now. One of the Moogles sits opposite him and it’s always kind of hard to tell with Moogles, but it looks pretty anxious.

Contact between Worlds is borderline impossible these days - even though the walls are kind of beat to shit, there’s just too much going on in the space between everything. The signal gets blocked by about fifty different complicating factors that Yuffie doesn’t even pretend to understand. That’s Cid’s department (and Reeve’s, when he’s around and not off running rescue operations with Barrett), she’s here to be an awesome ninja, not fiddle with wires.

But the kids weren’t supposed to be leaving the zone of space that surrounds Traverse Town - they _should_ have been able to get through, staticky but present. The fact that they’re not in contact implies something has gone _very_ wrong, and none of them can afford to take the time away from the daily work of beating back Heartless and triaging refugees to spend more than a few hours searching.

Cid shakes his head, and Yuffie’s shoulders slump.

The three of them had been so excited. They’d finished the gummi ship they’d been working on under Cid’s supervision and since Riku had just turned 14 the usual “no space travel until you’re teenagers” excuses hadn’t held up when they’d asked to test it. The ship was fine, and the kids weren’t bad pilots - it should have been _fine_ .

“They’re pretty capable kids,” she offers, the last thread any of them have to hold onto at the moment. “I’m sure they’re fine.”

“ _Kupo._ ” The Moogle agrees.

* * *

The kids are not, in the traditional sense of the word, fine.

They’ve woken up to Kairi being yanked away from them, the previously-innocuous forest turned into something twisted and threatening between the night and the flicker of the green flames in the stranger’s other hand.

Sora and Riku grab for their gear - sturdy short swords, left within easy reach before they’d fallen asleep. Kairi yelps and tries to twist out of the iron-like grip around her wrist.

“This wasn’t in my plans, you know.” The stranger says conversationally, an alarming grin stretching over her features. “But when I felt this pure light here - well, suffice to say it’s a welcome coincidence.”

Riku and Sora trade baffled glances at this apparent non-sequitur before leaping at the threat.

Riku goes high as Sora goes low, a combo they’ve used since before they arrived in Traverse town, swords flashing out at the person in front of them _who has their friend_.

* * *

“How troublesome,” Maleficent sneers, brushing aside an attack from the one with the mass of silver hair flying wild around their face.

The girl wrenches harder at the grip around her wrist and Maleficent finds the very end of her patience as a sturdy boot connects with her shin. She casts the most powerful Sleep she can summon on the child, and drops her as she slumps to the ground.

The other two are clearly gearing up for some other attack - the boy with the spikey hair is muttering frantically, with a look of intense concentration on his face. Maleficent is one of the greatest magic users the worlds have ever seen - she recognizes a very big fire spell when she hears the start of one.

It is the work of a thought to reach out into the space of the universe in which the spell is starting to take shape and _pluck_ , as if on a harp. The silver-haired one charges her, and she knocks them aside with a blast of power. They bounce, when they land, and roll through the portal she had forgotten to close. No matter, they were out of the way now.

The other finishes his spell, not noticing the change she has made. Maleficent throws up a Barrier almost as an afterthought, gathering the girl into an awkward carry and setting off through a different dark portal as a massive blaze bursts to life within the clearing.

She still has business to attend to, after all, and she does not look back at where the boy collapses in the backlash of his spell. 

* * *

The way Cid figured it, the Planet had threatened to destroy itself in response to some threat, internal or external, every year or so, almost like clockwork. You could almost set your watch by how Cloud got fidgety and fucked off about a month before something major came to light.

Shinra, however many years back, had fucked with the balance and the rest of them paid the blasted price every time a new megalomaniac – or the same damn one, fucking Jenova – popped up with delusions of world domination and/or destruction and the Planet decided to defend itself against the threat by making _itself_ a threat. Shit got old after the first half dozen times you got dragged along with a ragtag bunch of misfits to save the world, but dammit it was _theirs._

In the end, though, it wasn’t Jenova or any petty little human who did the world in. It was a new type of monster, dark and cold and relentless. Strike one down and it didn’t even leave a body, just a small flash of light and the space for two more to rise out of the shadows to take its place. Most of the times their weapons didn’t even _do_ anything, you had to shove some magic into it.

The survivors found out later that they were called _H_ _eartless,_ but by then the darkness had reached into the very core of the Planet, infecting the Lifestream itself, and the Planet had literally kicked them off and finished what it kept trying to start, casting Omega and releasing the Weapons.

That was years ago, now. Cid doesn’t think of Rocket Town as _home_ anymore, not usually. Home is the shop, the forge, the couple of rooms in the back. Home is being laughed at for his bad Mooglish and gummi ship parts spread all over the kitchen table. It’s Yuffie making a mess of dinner and a comfortingly-familiar eerie green light out of the corner of his eye as Aerith lurks in the background.

It’s the kids.

Teaching them engineering, watching them make progress in alchemy under the Moogles’ careful supervision, running them through their exercises with Yuffie.

Sora bumbling his way through taking care of the flowers on the window boxes, because he’s the only one who can hear Aerith well enough to follow her instructions. Kairi snuggled up next to Yuffie on the couch comparing materia theory to alchemized jewelry in their pajamas. Riku working their way through the math before soldering a new control panel for the _Highwind._

And now they’re gone, and home’s missing for the second time in less than a decade.


	2. Riku: Wonderland

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We strongly recommend Janelle Monae's 'Wondaland' as this chapter's theme music.

**Whiffling Through the Tulgey Wood**

Riku wakes up slowly, shivering with a lingering chill that has nothing to do with the temperature, which is actually quite pleasant in the patch of sunlight filtering through the trees.

Teal eyes squint up at the branches of said trees. They don’t look like the trees around where the gummi ship had crashed. Not that Riku is an expert in forests - a childhood on Destiny Islands, which were tropical, and then five years or so in a transient city with very little plant life doesn’t offer many opportunities to study them.

But the trees around the crash site had been what Riku generally considered to be a reasonable size and came in the usual tree colors of brown, with green leaves. These trees are _enormous_ , their trunks streaked with blue and green and purple, like someone had gone at them with cans of spray paint the size of Flare gummi engine blocks. There’s really no mistaking them for the same species as the ones the trio had been sleeping under - however long ago.

A different World, then. No gummi ship, no traces of how Riku even _got_ here - the witch had done something, cast a spell, and then memory fails. The only things around are the sword and some fallen leaves that one could mistake for throw rugs from their sheer size. No sign of Sora or Kairi, no way to find them.

Riku’s alone, for the first time in a long time.

* * *

_“This World has been connected,” Kairi’s father tells the three children from where he’s guarding the approach. “Tied to the darkness.”_

_“It will be completely eclipsed soon.” Sora’s mom adds, zipping up Sora’s jacket even though he’s_ **_eight_ ** _and more than big enough to do it himself. Her hands are shaking.  
_

_“What’s that mean?” Kairi asks, tugging at the straps of her backpack. The three of them had been woken up in the middle of the night by panicked parents and guardians and rushed to the Children's Island, handed bags of supplies, and now all the adults were acting_ **_weird._ ** _  
_

_“Nothing good. You three must stick together, OK?” Sora’s mom says, gathering the three of them close in a hug. She offers them a bright smile, and it’s almost as full of joy as usual. “Don’t think we don’t know about that paopu fruit you guys all shared last year. That’s powerful magic on these islands - but you have to maintain the connection. Keep each other in your hearts.”_

_Riku’s aunt comes tumbling in, soaking wet. Outside the cave, thunder crashes. There’s a huge, glowing sword in her hands, which vanishes in a burst of light as she reaches them.  
_

_“They’re here,” she gasps. “We have to go, we have to send them,_ **_now_ ** _.”_

_Kairi’s father ruffles her hair, Riku’s aunt kisses his forehead, and Sora’s mom whispers some words. The adults step back and the kids - tired, frightened at this strange behavior, sensing a change in the atmosphere - grab onto each others’ hands.  
_

_“Stay by each others’ sides.” says Kairi’s father._

_“Guard each others’ backs.” says Riku’s aunt._

_“Go, and be safe.” intones Sora’s mom and with a gesture of her hand they vanish into an impossibly bright glow._

* * *

Alice thinks she may be lost again. She’s almost _certain_ she’s seen that branch before. It looks a bit like a bird, so she had taken note of it the last time.

“Oh dear,” she says aloud, turning slowly in a circle. The woods here feel friendly enough - unlike that garden with those flowers which had been so _insistent_ she mustn’t be planted nearby to them. She’s starting to worry she’ll never find her way out of here when she hears it: the quiet sound of someone crying.

It sounds close, so she follows it. Even if this person can’t help her, she already feels better knowing she’s not alone - and someone should check on them.

In a small clearing in the woods sits a person with long silver hair that looks quite tangled, quite clearly the source of the crying sounds - their shoulders shake and though their face is hidden in their hands Alice can see some tears dripping down to a black-clad lap.

“Excuse me, miss?” she asks, tentatively, crouching down so she isn’t looming and being rude. The stranger looks up, startled, and Alice realizes she may have made an incorrect assumption. Oh dear. She tries again, “Or, umm, sir?”

The stranger stops crying and considers this, as strangely serious as anyone else Alice has met in Wonderland. They don’t look that much older than she is, especially with the tear tracks.

“Yes, sir, I think.” They- _he_ says, thoughtfully. “For now.”

Alice nods, and decides to start the interaction over, correctly this time. It seems proper.

“Excuse me, then, sir, are you alright?” She asks. “Only, I heard you crying.”

“I-I’m not sure,” he says, “I’ve lost my friends, and I don’t know what to do.”

“That’s awful,” says Alice, offering him a handkerchief. He accepts it, and mops ineffectually at his face. “I’m very sorry that’s happened to you. I would offer to help you find them, but I’m afraid I’m also rather lost.”

Surprisingly, this gets her a laugh. It’s an awful, wet little thing, but at least he’s smiling now.

“What a pair we are,” he says, and gives her the handkerchief back. “My name’s Riku.”

“I’m Alice,” says Alice. “It’s a pleasure to meet you Riku. I can’t help you find your friends, but would you like some help with your hair? It might make you feel better, and I’m quite good at braiding.”

Riku gives her another shaky smile. “That’s very kind of you. I think I’d like that.”

* * *

This World is extremely weird, but at least it’s inhabited.

That’s what Riku keeps telling himself as he scowls at yet another vial of potion labeled _drink me_. Alice had explained some of the tricks of Wonderland as the two of them had walked through the woods, Riku’s hair newly detangled and in a simple but very well-done braid. She seemed a talkative sort, which Riku - who had grown up with Sora and Kairi as best friends - appreciates. She, in turn, appreciated the company, as she had said she was just beginning to become very frightened indeed of being lost alone when she’d heard him crying.

He’s still a little embarrassed about it, but Alice has been nothing but kind and really hasn’t mentioned it at all - only to comment that at least he hadn’t been a giant at the time and risked being washed away by his own tears.

Apparently, that’s a real risk in Wonderland.

He’s not sure how long it’s been, because the light never really changes, but he and Alice had wandered the woods for what felt like a long time before they stumbled on a garden where some very flat painters had been frantically attempting to turn white roses red.

Alice, being a kind soul, had asked what was wrong, and it had all gone sideways pretty quickly after that. Literally, for a while in the weird house there.

_Drink me_ gleams the label on the bottle. Riku feels like normally this would be a really bad idea but he needs more evidence for Alice’s trial - he knows she didn’t steal the tarts, because she’s been with him the whole time, and besides Alice is far too nice and honest for something like that.

But time and distance mean different things in Wonderland, and the Queen’s word was generally law right up until it wasn’t. Riku doesn’t understand the arcane rules that would let him gather evidence for a trial but not count as a witness, but Alice had been _kind_ and he can’t just leave her here to be beheaded!

He needs to be smaller to fit through the blades of grass to follow the footsteps that look very much like they might have been Alice’s.

With a sigh, Riku reaches for the bottle.

* * *

Some incalculable amount of time later, Riku has found all the evidence he’s ever going to find, returned to his usual size, and managed to figure out how to get back to the court, despite the stupid cat’s _kup_ -ing terrible directions.

Something is wrong.

That’s not quite accurate – Wonderland has felt _off_ the entire time he’s been here, but there’s a rhythm to it. An expectation of taking one’s time and the scenic route to any destination, conversation, or other complete frustration. Everything is always a little wrong, which is why making a left is often the better decision if the other option is a right.

This is different. The court is in disarray, but it’s nothing like the bumbling chaos it had been before. Hedges are broken, benches are burnt, and the cage that served as the witness stand, where Riku had last seen Alice, is overturned with the door only barely holding on by half of a busted hinge. Alice herself is not in evidence.

Riku drops the box he’s been using the haul evidence around in – there isn’t much space in his backpack, and he’d been reluctant to mix things together – and hurries into the space. A card-guard is groaning from where he’s stuck half-under a fallen bench. With some effort, Riku manages to get them free.

He helps them up. “What happened? Where is everyone?”

The guard groans and leans on him, surprisingly weighty for someone who’s nearly two-dimensional over a significant portion of their body.

“Gone – all gone. There were these shadow creatures, and then they took the girl – I don’t know what...”

He trails off, staring into the distance. Riku waves a hand in front of his face, and gets no response. Thoroughly creeped out now, he pulls his sword out of his backpack and goes to see if he can find anyone else.

* * *

There’s no one else. A dozen steps into the woods – which suddenly seemed much less friendly as the light leached out of the sky, the vibrant colors of the tree trunks dulling into something much more sinister – and he’d seen the first one.

Quick little slips of shadows, skittering over surfaces until they found something to launch themselves at. Riku had recognized them immediately: everyone in Traverse Town was trained to be on their guard in the streets, and he and the others had gotten some extra lessons from Cid and Yuffie whenever they weren’t busy in the forge with the Moogles or being taught alchemy.

The Heartless had come to Wonderland.

* * *

A close thing, their escape. Hauling someone as broad as the card-guard wasn’t easy, but they had to move. Heartless meant darkness, and that many… Riku hadn’t seen that many Heartless since the last time they laid eyes on the Destiny Isles.

In the distance, a soft light beckons. Hope, safety, people? They glance at the card-guard in worry. Will he make it? Anything higher than a basic healing spell would bring too much attention, and with this many Heartless around… Hefting the card-guard’s arm over their shoulder, the two press on, hoping for something in the light.

* * *

The candlelight burned serenely, laying clear a table set for nine. Not a soul in sight, the tea pot giving off an occasional puff of steam, the only sign that anyone had been here recently.

“The lights are on, the table is set, but without the hatter… His guests will be quite upset…” A voice, from the balcony of the cottage spoke, suddenly. Riku nearly dropped the card-guard before recognizing the voice. Settling him in the nearest chair, they watched as the Cheshire Cat made himself present. Despite the usually teasing tone of the cat, none of the bravado was present now. If anything, he looked positively stressed, and the concern in his voice had been all too real.

“Have you seen the girl? Alice?”

“Not a soul, not a soul. Well, perhaps too many souls is the issue? Either way, we are here, and she is not. Who’s to say?”

All three fall silent, the card-guard staring dead into the tea, as though some unfathomable knowledge might come forth from within. They rested as long as they could.

* * *

A route that should have been scenic. A left that should have been a right. The rules had been followed but the world wasn’t following with them. Places where before the mad rules of Wonderland had been consistently inconsistent, now were consistently consistent. The cat and the card were visibly distressed, by the absence of the rules they lived by, and the absence of anyone who wasn’t Riku or a Heartless. But _kupo_ this route should have been safe. They played by the rules. And now the Heartless had decided the game was over it seemed.

Large Bodies, three of them. With a card-guard who couldn’t fight, and a cat that had become ever more distressed as they had ventured on. Large Bodies were bad enough when they came alone, and Sora and Kairi, or one of the adults was around. But no. There were three of them. And there was no help coming.

The card-guard, in a surprising burst of movement, shuffled to the front of their rag-tag group. “Go. I’ll hold them here. First ones I’ve seen in awhile that the Queen herself would welcome the heads of.”

“You’ll-”

“ _Go._ Queen would have my head if I let a guest of her Court come to harm.” And there was no further arguing, because the Large Bodies were upon them, and the card-guard was shoving them into the brush, and then, in one last burst of defiance to the Heartless, Wonderland let the rules take hold, and they were gone.

* * *

Riku isn’t sure how long it’s been since Wonderland started to fall, but they think it’s been a week at least. They’re fortunate that the giant mushrooms scattered around the forest are, if not tasty, edible and mostly without nasty side effects, because otherwise they’re pretty sure they’d have been out of supplies a while ago.

They haven’t seen anyone else since they left the Hatter’s House. Since they lost the card-guard. Not any people, anyway – there’s always the Heartless. When none are attacking, they can hear them skittering around nearby. As a result they haven’t really been sleeping, just tucking themself in corners with their sword in a death grip and dozing as lightly as they possibly can.

The Cheshire Cat had been utterly skittish the last time they saw him, eyes twitching, body parts flickering in and out of visibility, before finally vanishing altogether, though the sound of chattering teeth could still be heard every so often.

Riku is tired, and hungry, and scared. They can feel the world tilting, slipping further into darkness inch by inch as its occupants lose hope and with it, their grip on their lights.

They want their aunt. They want the Moogles, or Cid, or Yuffie. Someone to tell them they did good, but it’s ok, they can stop now.

Half a dozen Shadows appear, backing them against the wall. They raise their sword again, arms shaking. They’re not sure how much longer they can do this but – their friends are out there, somewhere, lost in the Worlds.

They can’t give up without seeing Sora and Kairi one last time.

A Shadow darts close enough, and they swing the sword at it. One more time. And then another.

And another after that.

* * *

They hadn’t known that Heartless came so big.

Traverse Town mostly got Shadows, Soldiers, and the occasional Large Body or magic-user of one or another type. _This_ Heartless looms over Riku, easily the size of a small house, and they are so tired.

They haven’t seen the Cheshire Cat in ages. It feels like they’ve been fighting for weeks, against the never-ending Shadows that they’re pretty sure used to be the inhabitants of this World. There’s no longer even a hint of gray light in the sky. They can’t see the starlight of other Worlds, even through gaps in the trees.

Wonderland has fallen.

Riku hasn’t, yet, and they don’t intend to, despite the ache in their muscles and the nagging doubts edging into where their heart hurts from being alone away from their friends.

They heft the sword up, and run at where one of the giant Heartless’s fists, and slash with all the strength in their fourteen-year-old frame.

For their troubles, they get backhanded into a tree, sword flying away, eyes closing at the impact and they’re-

_drifting downwards, a gentle blue light filtering around them as they sink through calm waters, a trail of bubbles in their wake and they’re-_

_landing on formless nothing, which scatters under their feet into hundreds of paper birds, winging away into the darkness and they’re-_

_standing on warmly-glowing stained glass, gazing up into the darkest depths of anything they’ve ever seen._

_They look down, and see themself, eyes closed and hands cupped gently around a paopu fruit resting on their stomach. They’re wearing the same outfit they’d left Traverse Town in – zippered yellow vest and flowing black capris – and their hair fans out around them. Woven into silver strands are portraits: miniature on the scale of the whole circle of glass, but life-sized compared to Riku themself._

_Kairi over their left shoulder, smiling serenely through her bangs. Sora over their right, bright grin somehow captured in glass. One of the Moogles (they aren’t sure which it’s supposed to be, but the pom-pom looks like it might belong to Mogvar), Cid, Yuffie, and a green blur that they think is supposed to be Aerith are all smaller but no less important in the composition._

**Take your time. Don’t be afraid.**

_The words aren’t audible so much as suddenly imposed upon Riku’s brain._

**Power sleeps within you.** _The words don’t-say._ **If you give it form, it will give you strength.**

_Suddenly, there is a sword, a staff, and a shield before them._

**Choose well.**

_It’s hardly a choice at all, they think, hand drifting towards the shield. It feels like safety, like curling up in a corner of the forge on a rainy day with their friends while the Moogles snark at each other in Mooglish._

**The power of the guardian. Kindness to aid friends. A shield to repel all.**

_Their fingers close around it, and it vanishes, leaving behind that feeling of warmth. The other two objects remain._

**What will you give up in exchange?**

_The staff crackles with the promise of magical power. The sword gleams with the promise of victory._

_Victory is something they haven’t felt much of since leaving Traverse. But magic – magic is too useful. If they want to defend, they need to be able to heal._

_Riku touches the sword, and both it and the staff vanish and they’re-_

_on the islands, on the beach where even now they can see the half-hearted pile of materials for the raft the three of them had been planning to build. It hasn’t changed since they were last here, five years ago. The sun shines down, startling after the peaceful dark of the emptiness around they had been standing on a heartbeat and an eon ago._

**You have chosen the power of the guardian, given up the power of the warrior. Who are you?**

_Figures appear on the beach, and Riku feels their heart clench. There’s something faint about each of these, as if they’d been constructed from a reference photo faded with age and exposure to the elements, but they’re recognizable._

_They go to Kairi’s father, first, because he’s closest and because they’re not ready to see the others yet._

“ _What are you afraid of?” Asks Kairi’s father, and Riku thinks about it._

_They’ve been somewhat afraid for ages now, ever since they woke up to Kairi being pulled away from them in the night. They’re afraid of failure, of letting down their friends. They’re afraid of Reeve’s attempts at cooking, and Yuffie’s infamous random ninja exams at ungodly hours of the morning. They’re afraid of something just beyond the grasp of their understanding, sometimes, when the world gets too big and sad for them to handle alone._

_But that isn’t the kind of fear Kairi’s father is talking about._

“ _Being left behind.” They say, and Kairi’s father smiles kindly at them._

“ _Being left behind? Would they really do that to you?”_

_Riku hopes not. They go to Sora’s mom, next, where she’s sitting on the beach with her arms propped up on her knees considering the waves._

“ _What do you want out of life?” Asks Sora’s mom, and Riku thinks about it._

_Five years ago, they wanted to know what was going on, where the adults were sending them and why. Two years ago, they wanted to know what the difference between ‘kupo’ and ‘kupo’ even was. Last month, they wanted to know how to wire in a propeller next to a fira gummi without anything exploding. Today, they wanted their friends by their side._

_But that isn’t the kind of want Sora’s mom is talking about._

“ _To make a difference.” They say, and Sora’s mom smiles proudly at them._

“ _To make a difference, huh? That sounds like a good dream.”_

_Riku is glad she agrees. They go to their aunt, last. She’s leaning against the paopu tree, just to the left of where Riku always ended up when on the Childrens’ Island with their friends._

“ _What’s most important to you?” Asks Riku’s aunt, and Riku thinks about it._

_They like being right, and being relied on. It feels good when one of the Moogles ‘kupo’ approvingly at their work in the forge or Reeve hands a sheet of calculations back without any corrections. They like when Cid asks their opinion on a new set of blueprints, and then nods approvingly at their input and even sometimes makes changes from their suggestions._

_But that isn’t the kind of important their Aunt is talking about._

“ _My family.” They say, and Riku’s aunt smiles fondly at them._

**Is this who you are?**

_They’re back in the dark place with the glowing stained glass. A white door stands in the center of the circle._

_Who they are is love for their friends and determination to keep going in spite of anxious whispers in their ears. Who they are is loud nights at the kitchen table with sauce spilling onto the equations as someone gestures too forcefully with a spoon. Who they are is the sea-shore, constantly changed from the motion of the waves but steady in its presence all the same._

_They open the door._

* * *

The giant Heartless stands over them, hands forming a large and unpleasant-looking ball of darkness in the air. They can see how driving a suitable weapon into its ankles might destabilize it now, enough for them to get at its head.

Their sword is too far away to reach safely. They stretch out a hand anyway, and-

_-a burst of light, glittering pieces collapsing inwards to form the solid mass of a grip and sizeable handguards, glowing outwards to end in a sturdy set of spokes that curve back in on themselves, the implied form of infinity the comfortable heft of something that will stop a blow before it comes raining down upon them-_

-swing.

The Heartless falls to its knees, tangled head finally within reach. Riku grips the keyblade in both hands, and batters at the darkness until it cracks and fades and a single drop of crystalline light drifts upwards into the distance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> > Riku's first keyblade, Guiding Star. A lightweight yellow keyblade with a hefty black handle. The teeth curve back in on themselves to form a starburst, much like a compass rose.
> 
> Art now working - L 


	3. Kairi: Olympus Coliseum (pt 1)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Kairi sleeps, and Cloud and Vincent definitely don't panic.

** I Will Find My Way (If I Can Be Strong) **

Maleficent was having a remarkably good day, all told. Not that good is a word anyone else would ever use to describe a day where things go well for Maleficent, but when a child of Light is found, ripe for the taking, what else could she describe it as? As she steps forth through the flames of her magic, the sheer _weight_ of the Underworld attempts to exert itself upon her. She shrugs it off, without a title like Hero or God, there isn’t anything to hold her down within this world. The girl lays slumped, eyes vacant, staring into the grand tiled floor of Hades’ throne room.

“What eh, what’s with the kid?” A plume of smoke, as the Lord of the Dead makes himself known.

“The dear girl is someone of interest to our plans. One with a heart bright enough that I dare call her… A princess.”

“Princess, eh? Don’t get many of those around these parts anymore, the local mortals are all into - whaddaya call it, ‘democracies’ these days.” Hades makes air quotes with his fingers, and then smirks, “Heh, deMOCKracies, wow, there’s a whole heap of material right there…”

Maleficent narrows her eyes at him. “Now is not the time for such japes. There are matters to discuss.”

“Right, right,” Hades waves a hand, and a conference table and strange wheeled chairs swirl into existence out of the chilling fog that makes up so much of the Underworld. “Grab a chair - let’s talk _business.”_

* * *

Cloud hates the Underworld. All of the stupid corridors look the same, the fog makes everything unpleasantly damp, and if he _liked_ the cold he would have damn well stayed in Nibelhelm.

He glares at the dead end. It might not actually be a dead-end, but a rockfall has made it as good as one. Shiva’s tits, he’d been sure this one would be the right one. He turns to his companion and gestures furiously and silently at the wall of boulders.

The ghostly form of Vincent Valentine doesn’t make a face at Cloud, but it is strongly implied. _It was open last I came through here_ , he says, like a whisper on the wind.

“Vincent,” Cloud grits out, “are you sure this is the same path?”

This does earn him an indignant glare. _I do not get lost_ , says Vincent, with what would have been a sniff if he had lungs.

Cloud grumbles, “apparently _I_ do,” under his breath and kicks half-heartedly at the rocks. With one last glare at the blocked corridor, he spins around on one heel and starts trudging back down the way they’d come. Vincent drifts silently behind him.

* * *

“So, your heartless, my evil plan, this world falls, and then… what? What do you get out of this?” Hades gestures to the various pawns and pieces scattered around the map of Olympus Coliseum. “All the big-name heroes are out at the frontlines, they won’t be here to lose their hearts.”

“Call it… an investment.” Maleficent smirks. “The potential to experiment with the interaction of darkness and the legions of the dead is worth my time.”

Hades stares suspiciously for a moment before shrugging in a sudden little _woosh_ of flames. “Alright, lady, you got yourself a deal.”

Maleficent’s smirk widens into something with far too many teeth. “Excellent. Now, I have other business I must attend to, but in the meantime - hold onto the girl, will you? She is under a great Sleep and will not wake, but I haven’t the time to take her between worlds with me.”

“Eeeehhh, sure, I guess, Underworld’s got plenty of places to stash her - but it’s no place for the living, ya know.”

“The Sleep is between life and death.” Maleficent shrugs, rising from the table. “She will be stable.”

“Great.” Hades rises as well, sliding around beside her in time to make it seem like he’s the one doing the leading. “Let me walk you out.”

“There is no need.” says Maleficent, opening a dark portal and stepping through. It closes behind her without any further fuss.

Hades stares at where the fairy witch just was, lips pursed, and then turns his glare on the kid. She doesn’t stir. What’s he even supposed to do with a mortal child?

Oh well, that’s what minions are for, right?

With a snap of his fingers, Pain and Panic appear. Waving off their immediate attempts at brown-nosing, Hades points at the kid. “You two get to deal with this until whenever the witch wants her back. No damage, no losing track of the wonderous coma-kid. I don’t want to have to see it or hear about it, got it?”

“Y-yes boss!” stammers Pain, while Panic gives a nervous salute. Between the two of them, they manage to lift the girl off the ground enough that nothing is going to bump on the rocky floor and haul her out of the throne room, leaving Hades alone in blissful silence (apart from the tormented moans of the shades all around).

“Shaddup.” He tells the nearest one, and flops down on his throne to consider the next moves in his plans.

* * *

Cloud and Vincent have managed to make it back to the main corridor of the Underworld. The plus side of this is they are now in known, navigable territory. The downside is that it’s _crowded,_ weeping spirits covering the place at every turn. For someone like Cloud - happiest roaring on his motorbike through the absolute middle of nowhere, where no one can find him and make him save the world - it is a special kind of hell.

Which, he supposes, is kind of the point of the place.

Over the infernal background noise of unhappy spirits, voices catch Cloud’s attention. Ducking behind a nearby pillar, he peers at the bizarre scene unfolding down the corridor. Hades’ little minions are bickering with each other, awkwardly carrying a young teenager between them. The fat one is wearing light up, branded Hercules sandals.

It’s not so weird to see Pain and Panic around – they’re often running errands for Hades, doing whatever menial task he’s decided he doesn’t want to do (which is most of them). It _is_ weird to see someone with a physical body in the Underworld, and as Cloud watches he can see her chest rise and fall with slow, even breaths. This isn’t some lost shade fresh off of Charon’s ferry, this is a _living person._ Possibly the only other one in the entire place.

Eh, whatever, it's not actually his problem.

Cloud ducks back behind the pillar to wait out the minions so he can sneak down the path once they’ve passed. Vincent glares daggers at the side of his head until he turns and mouths, ‘what?’

_You’re just going to let them take her?_ The gunman demands, waving a bare hand in the direction of the squeakily-retreating footsteps. _She’s just a child._

Cloud shrugs mullishly. He finally managed to quit the hero business when the Planet kicked them off and self-destructed in the face of a Heartless invasion. He’s only here because he heard a rumor Sephiroth has been spotted, and if Sephiroth tries anything he’s going to get dragged back _into_ the hero business and that is, frankly, the last thing he wants.

Red eyes narrow at him. Vincent takes advantage of the fact that he isn’t bound by the laws of physics to float upwards and emphasize the height difference between them. Cloud glares right back, until Vincent breaks out the metaphorical gattling gun in this little argument:

_Aerith would have insisted we save her._

“Oooh, that’s just playing dirty, Valentine,” Cloud hisses as quietly as possible.

_You know I’m right._

And Bahamaut take it – Cloud does. That doesn’t mean he has to like it. “Fine. But we’re gonna do it smart.”

Vincent backs off, radiating smugness. _As opposed to the great AVALANCHE tradition of solving all your problems with explosions? I_ was _a Turk, you know. Smart and subtle were always rather more my thing._

“Tell that to Reno,” mutters Cloud, and turns his back on Vincent to start shadowing Pain, Panic, and their unconscious burden down further into the Underworld.

* * *

The imps put her, essentially, in a storage closet.

Oh, it’s certainly bigger than the word ‘closet’ implies, but the room is jam-packed with junk. Urns, plates, statuettes, full-sized statues, a whole pile of tapestries – all of it emblazoned with heros of legend. The door had been labelled, at knee height where Hades was extremely unlikely to ever notice it, _Room of Stuff to Never Mention First Unless the Boss Asks Specifically, Ever-Ever Again._

One of them must have had an attack of a conscience, because when Cloud breaks in (with Vincent’s helpful advice and silent but viscious mockery) she’s lying on a few of the tapestries instead of the bare stone floor. Nothing over her, though, and she’s in a tank top and knee-length shorts in the chilly Underworld.

_Give her the cloak,_ says Vincent from where he’s keeping watch outside, clearly thinking the same thing.

“Put on my clothes, Cloud,” Cloud mocks, even as he struggles with untangling the damn ratty thing from around his shoulders. “Don’t you dare lose my gear, Cloud. That cloak has been my companion for three decades, Cloud...”

He doesn’t look, but he’s positive Vincent is rolling his eyes at him.

He gingerly starts to wrap the girl in the cloak – fortunately, the uncomfortably-animate fabric catches on to what he’s trying to do and obligingly wiggles under her to form a blanket burrito (albeit one with rather tattered edges). From there, he scoops her into a shoulder carry and stands smoothly.

_It’s clear,_ says Vincent, and Cloud starts to move forward before realizing something.

“Wait, where are we gonna _keep_ her?”

* * *

They wind up in a little hidey-hole of a side cavern, where Cloud has caught some sleep in the past. The Underworld is vast, and Hades is not in the habit of roaming all of its passageways on anything approaching a regular basis. As long as no one notices she’s missing (and, given the room she was placed in, it seems like they’ll probably have at least a few weeks grace in this regard), and they move every few days, they’re unlikely to be found.

At first, Cloud worries about what they’ll do once the girl wakes up. The Underworld is no place for a child, certainly, but at this point he’s not really sure how they’d get her out, or even what they’d do with her if they managed that. Who was she? Did she have parents up there, in the land of the living – or anyone else to return to?

By the third day, it’s becoming clear that whatever plan of action they settle on is contingent more on _if_ she wakes up rather than _when._

“Why are we doing this again?” Cloud grumbles, mostly rhetorically, but the look Vincent sends him is surprised.

_Can you not feel it?_ He asks.

“Feel what?”

_The light. She_ shines _with importance, Cloud._

Cloud frowns, looks at the girl, and then closes his eyes and looks again. Sure enough, Vincent’s right – she glows more than anyone he’s ever seen before, except maybe Aerith. It calls out to the light in him, just as from some unknown direction he can feel Sephiroth calling out to the dark.

Huh. Mollified, Cloud settles in for some more waiting.

* * *

Because he feels more weird continuing to call her “the girl” in his head than he does about going through her stuff, he checks her pockets to see if he can find any clues to why she isn’t waking up.

This line of inquiry reveals a small pile of objects: the pockets of the girl’s shorts are quite large, and she apparently keeps them stuffed with every little useful doo-dad and interesting rock she comes across. There are some pieces of what looks like gummi blocks, a whole fist-sized tangle of loose wires, a small sea shell, a miniature set of screwdrivers, three throwing stars that look nostalgically similar to something Yuffie would use, a few wrenches, a battered notepad (which didn’t have a useful ‘if lost please return to ___’ label or anything, it was just full of doodles of circuitry and some notes in a language Cloud couldn’t read), a broken-off pencil, and...

_Is that... a materia?_ Vincent asks from over Cloud’s shoulder, sounding as shocked as Cloud feels.

Cloud nods, and rolls it around in his palm. The dull orange glow of a low-level Summon is bright and warm in the gloomy depths of the Underworld. What’s this piece of home doing here?

* * *

Two weeks in, Cloud can’t justify the wholesale delay of his quest any longer. If Hades was going to find the kid, he’d probably have started making noises about _looking_ for her by now, and although the Underworld is dangerous this corner is pretty quiet. There just isn’t that much to do that isn’t endless squats when watching over a kid in a magical coma (and feeling vaguely creepy if one watches the kid instead of the approach to their little nook), and he’s not _Zack._

Vincent clearly can sense this restlessness. He’d always understood – and usually had managed to disappear post-adventure before even Cloud did, after the danger was over but before anyone had recovered enough to celebrate. _Go_. _I can watch over her._

Cloud nods, grateful. “Thanks. I’ll drop in every few days, make sure everything’s still OK.”

He goes.

* * *

“She’s still not awake?” Cloud asks, worried now. By his count, it’s been nearly a month since they stole her out from - well, not from under Hades’ nose. From his junk drawer, basically.

Vincent shakes his head, brow wrinkled with concern. _She is under a great magic. She fights against it, but..._

But she has no direction, no guidance. And the oppressive power of the Underworld, which leeches strength passively and constantly, is definitely not helping.

Cloud thinks about being lost in the Lifestream, finding that his mind hadn’t been his own – how shakey things had been during that time and immediately after. At least he’d had Tifa. That this kid is going through something like that, on her own...

Say, there’s an idea. A stupid one, sure, but: “Hey Vincent, you know how you’re a ghost now?”

_Technically I am not,_ Vincent says, expression making his discomfort with this opening line of questioning extremely obvious if you knew how to read him. Most people would probably interpret this particular blank look as ‘stoicness,’ but Cloud’s had some practice. _One needs to be able to die to become a ghost._

Cloud gestures at Vincent, where he floats transparently a few inches off the ground, dressed in the regulation Turk suit trousers and bloody dress shirt he’d died in decades ago before being brought back as the host to a handful of monsters, and raises an eyebrow.

_Fine, yes, I am without a body. What of it?_

“You’re a consciousness without a body and she’s a body without a consciousness. Could you like, try to possess her and help her out?”

Vincent raises a hand to rub at his temples, which is ridiculous. He can’t even get headaches.

“What, you got any better ideas?”

* * *

Neither of them had been able to come up with any better ideas.

It’s not really possession, Vincent tells himself as he attempts to figure out how to send his consciousness into the heart of a girl whos name they still don’t know. Possession implies taking over, and he isn’t trying to do that, he’s just trying to help guide her own consciousness back to the surface.

He doesn’t usually like sticking his body through anything. He’s not physical, so unless a barrier is made of magical force it doesn’t really mean anything to him, but it’s still unpleasant. Thinking about the one time he tried to pat Cloud on the back and ended up with his hand in the man’s beating heart still makes him shiver.

That said, staring at her clearly isn’t having any results.

He apologizes silently, and gently lowers his hand over and then into her head and he’s-

_sinking in warm waters and surrounded by soft blue light for an eternity before he lands on what feels like solid ground but ripples like the calmest lake at the touch of his boots. He looks around the featureless space._

“ _Hello?” he calls out, and gets no response. “I’m very sorry to intrude like this, but you’ve been asleep for a month – that we know about – and we couldn’t come up with any better ideas.”_

_The surface he stands on ripples, testing, and suddenly there is a door in front of him._

_He knocks._

* * *

_Kairi floats in peaceful emptiness. It is still, and calm, and_ wrong, wrong, she doesn’t want this she was trying to get away and she-

_fell as Riku was shoved away and Sora struggled back to his feet, shuttered within her own mind and smothered in cotton wool and she’s fighting, clawing at the fog around her but she can’t get out she never makes progress it keeps coming back and she-_

_hears an echoing rap through the muffled emptiness, bright and clear and suddenly she can_ move _so she lunges forward and she’s-_

_falling, falling, falling, picking up speed as she flies up to the peak of her arc and then she lands, gently, on solid ground, and breathes clearly for the first time in an eternity._

_She turns a slow circle, looking out at the gently sparkling mist rising off of the not-surface around the large circle of stone she’s landed on. Kairi looks down, and sees herself rendered large in a glittering mosaic. In the image, she’s asleep, or at least her eyes are closed, curled up on her side across half of the circle. One hand cups a small, white flower; the other is outstretched, resting on the hilt of a key-shaped sword. Above the strange blade of the sword, near her sleeping face, are smaller portraits of Sora and Riku. Below are three smaller portraits, which she can’t quite make out, placed around a white fountain. Hearts border the circle._

**So much to do, so little time.**

_It feels like she should be startled, but nothing about the words appearing in her mind is surprising. She feels calm – a true calm, so unlike the stifling wrongness of before._

**Power sleeps within you.** _The words continue,_ **If you give it form, it will give you strength.**

_Around her appear a sword, a shield, and a staff._

**Choose well.**

_Kairi considers the choices. The shield feels protective - but she thinks she’s done hiding. She reaches for the sword, and a crackle of power ghosts over her fingers. It feels like flying, like running over the rooftops in Yuffie’s wake, like pure adrenaline._

**The power of the warrior. Invincible courage. A sword of terrible destruction.**

_She takes the sword in her hand, and it vanishes, leaving behind it a sense of energy. The other two objects remain._

**What will you give up in exchange?**

_Magical power, or strong defenses? She doesn’t want others to have to protect her, to get hurt for her, anymore. Kairi touches the staff, and she’s-_

_in a town she doesn’t recognize, a white-paved plaza around the fountain from the mosaic. Everywhere, there is green grass and small but brightly-colored flowers. It smells like sunshine and freshwater. The sky is cloudless, and very blue._

**You have chosen the power of the warrior, given up the power of the mystic. Who are you?**

_Three figures appear as if they had always been there, scattered around the square. She doesn’t recognize any of them, so she approaches the nearest one first._

_He’s tall, with brown hair and serious eyes. He stands before a set of massive gates, arms folded over his chest._

“ _What are you afraid of?” he asks when she approaches, and Kairi thinks about it._

_She’s afraid for her friends, afraid they were hurt or worse in the fight with the witch. She’s afraid of spiders, and beetles, and having to clean out the weird corners of the gummi hanger by herself. Part of her is afraid of the gaps in her memory; feels like despite slotting into place she’ll never truly be home, whatever that means._

_But that isn’t the kind of fear the man is talking about._

“ _Being helpless.” She says, and the man smiles ruefully at her._

“ _Being helpless? Are you so determined to prove yourself?”_

_Kairi supposes she is. She goes to the blond boy next, where he’s lying on a bench squinting up at the sky. His eyes are very blue._

“ _What do you want out of life?” he asks when she leans over him, and Kairi thinks about it._

_When she came to the islands, she wanted to know who she was – where she was from, why she was here, what would happen next. When she came to Traverse Town she wanted her father’s hugs and bedtime stories. When she left Traverse Town she wanted to prove that she had what it took to be a proper gummi engineer._

_But that isn’t the kind of want the boy is talking about._

“ _To be someone others can look to.” She says, and the boy smiles sadly up at her._

“ _Someone others can look to? Yeah... a leader.”_

_Kairi hopes so. She goes to the woman, last, sitting on the other side of the fountain, her back to the water. The spray from it dampens her short blue hair. She’s tall enough that her feet don’t dangle over the paving stones, but somehow Kairi feels like she should be taller._

“ _What’s most important to you?” she asks when Kairi sits down next to her, and she thinks about it._

_She likes winning, and knowing the next step in a pattern. She craves the rush of mastering a new skill – a complicated Mooglish tongue twister, how to solder a circuit board, walking while in a handstand. She likes when Riku asks for her help braiding their hair, or Sora comes to her sheepishly with yet another ripped shirt and asks her to fix it._

_But that isn’t the kind of important the woman is talking about._

“ _Becoming my strongest self.” she says, and the woman smiles proudly at her._

**Is this who you are?**

_She’s back standing on the mosaic, looking out into the misty surroundings. A white door stands in the center of the circle._

_Who she is is a thread lovingly weaving lives together, patching up tears and making the damaged beautiful. Who she is is the act of taking a molten lump of glass just waiting and with steady hands and steady breaths turning it into something with form and purpose. Who she is is the ocean, warm and inviting and able to weather any squall, not hiding its power - but fatal when underestimated all the same._

_She opens the door._

* * *

_Vincent is thinking of knocking again, just in case, when the door opens. Bright blue eyes set in a familiar young face peer curiously up at him as she steps through the entryway, and the door disappears behind her._

“ _Hello,” she says. “Are you the one who knocked?”_

_He clears his throat, awkwardly, and says, “yes. I’m glad it seems to have worked.”_

“ _It did! Thank you,” says the girl, and holds out her hand. “I’m Kairi.”_

“ _My name is Vincent,” he says and takes her hand gently in his own scarred one. “It’s nice to finally meet you.”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're team #StopBenchingKairi, which is a not insignificant part of why we're writing this fic.


	4. Sora: Camelot (pt 1)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Merlin finds himself a new student.

**A Dark Age, Indeed**

Camelot. That was this world’s name. This world where they had crashed, and that woman had appeared and- Sora puts a sharp pin in that train of thought. Worrying about where his two best friendswound up wouldn’t be useful right now. Right now the Wizard is still talking, and he needs to keep track of as much as he can. Best case scenario, this is a world that had some communication with Traverse Town, or had at least heard of it. Worst case… The worst case was that they’d landed on a Lost World.

“Now then, this, this thing you were talking about, your gummi ship… Now where have I heard that phrase before… My word, it must have been, oh, seven, eight years now? I do wonder how Cid is doing these days-“

“Y-You know Cid?” Sora perks up, attention even further laser-focused on the old man in front of him. Tall, with a long white beard and a huge blue hat that seemed to collapse over itself as it went higher, he had introduced himself as Merlin the Wizard, and something about that kept playing in his head. The capital W had been almost audible in how he’d said it. “Please, can you help me get to Traverse Town, my friends are- my friends-“

And the world goes dim again, as Sora’s thought processes get stuck in a loop of terror for his friends, the Moogles, Cid, and _oh kup Cid and the Moogles would have been expecting them back they have to be worried-_ Through the panic, he’s vaguely aware of Merlin’s surprised expression, before the old man takes his walking staff, and muttering quickly, sternly, but softly, performs _Magic_ , and the weight of his body begins to drift away, and a dreamless sleep takes him.

* * *

Merlin glances back every so often at the floating body of the young boy he’d found whilst on a morning constitutional through the woods, his face more relaxed than any time than he’d seen the boy since meeting him. Finding the boy amidst what looked like a meteor crash had been one shock, but for him to also know about gummi ships and Traverse Town… this did not bode well. With the last King of Camelot gone for all these years, training Arthur so he could become the King he needed to be had become utterly essential. This world could _not_ be left without a protector, the so called Frontlines could only stop the tides of darkness in so many places, and a world as lost as Camelot was in dire need.

He supposes now he would need to train two apprentices. Just as well, Arthur wouldn’t take to learning magic nearly as well, and Merlin was in need of a successor. This boy would need a good deal more power to get off this world than the gummi blocks that had remained at his crash site could supply. For that matter, though Merlin had never taken much of an interest in the things, being so capable of world travel as he was, he was rather sure that a craft as large as what must have been would have fit at least two more people… A dreadful thought, a boy who’s lost his friends. Where on earth to train the boy,now, _that_ was a question. Sir Ector barely tolerated his presence in the castle, left alone in the crumbling spire as he was. The boy could certainly rest there, but after… It would almost be a game trying to keep his presence hidden.

At this thought, Merlin snapped his fingers, an idea coming to mind almost unbidden. How many years had it been since he’d had any sort of a proper Wizards Duel with that old maid Mim? Perhaps, if he played his cards right, training the boy would be easier than he thought…

* * *

Sora awakes to the rustling of feathers, soft hooting, and the bubbling and brewing of various concoctions. Looking around, he finds himself on a bed almost buried in the debris and detritus of what looked like a library had exploded into a Synthesis shop. The titles of the books around the bed were as wide and varied as could be, ranging from _World Governing: A Primer_ , to a physics textbook he swore he recognized from Reeve and Cid’s tutoring. Moving to get up, Sora halts rather quickly, feeling the rush of lightheadedness that usually came after a hard crash. It had been awhile since the last time something had caught him as hard as that, the last time had been a few years ago. The main forge had exploded, injuring Mogjiro as the Moogle rushed to get them out of the blast radius. Everyone had turned out okay, but the fear of losing Mogjiro and the panic about Riku and Kairi’s safety had locked Sora up until the other two had hauled him out of it.

The rustling of feathers gets louder, as a small owl winged its way over to a stand setup beside the bed. Peering at Sora for a moment, the owl turns its head back the way it came, surprising Sora by speaking aloud. “Merlin! The boy is awake, now kindly explain to him what the devil is going on here before he locks in again.”

“Yes, yes, one moment you blasted bird… Now where was that book- Ah! There we are!” Rounding the corner comes the Wizard Merlin, with a book the size of Sora’s head under his arm and an excited look on his face. “My boy, we met yesterday, I am-“

“You’re Merlin, the Wizard, right? You- you’re one of the most famous magic users in Traverse Town. But, Cid said you disappeared years ago.”

“Ah yes, I did once reside within Traverse Town. Had quite a lovely tower, nothing like this, this dreadfully drafty old thing. I see the question in your eyes, make no mistake lad. But I can’t get you to Traverse Town, not now. That town of yours is well protected, far and away from the lines, and with _competent_ protectors. Not like this world.”

Merlin sets the book he’s carrying down on the bed beside Sora, opening to what looked like a map, filled with rings looping between emblems for different worlds. Traverse Town’s crooked fluer-de-lis was close to the center, with a few others he vaguely remembered hearing the names of before from Cid, or one of the other shop owners. “Now, in years past, when the worlds were at peace, perhaps I could indeed have taken you away with a flick of my whiskers, but with all the hubbub over these last few years, I’m afraid I need to make sure this world stays hidden away until such a time as its new protector is ready to uphold it. But until that time, Camelot must remain one of the Lost Worlds, away from any of the easily reached lanes between.”

“Then… my friends- My friends! Riku, and Kairi! Kairi got taken away by this woman, she was, tall, and _green_ , and Riku got thrown into some portal-“

“Lad, lad, get a hold of yourself here, I need you to repeat something for me; You said she was _green_ ?” At Sora’s nod, Merlin looks as though he himself were about to turn green. “Good heavens, she wouldn’t dare, would she? No, if it’s her, there’s no telling.”

He glances up from his mutterings, eyes suddenly sharp and keen, a far cry from the benign joviality they had held moments before. “My boy, how would you like to learn some magic? I mean _real_ **_Magic_ ** ?”

And there is power in that voice, meaning behind meaning and truth behind truth. Sora nods.

* * *

Magic. Learning Magic is... transformative. Normal magic exists, encapsulated in easily learnable spellforms, sort of like Materia as best Sora could tell. Materia’s spells were... the easiest way he could think of them was like a push. When you had Materia equipped, you could feel the light push of what spells they had available, pushing against your mind, letting you know what you could do, the power you could unleash.

The magic that was taught without materia were similar in that sense, the most basic spellforms that could be shared, often in artifact form, gem bangles and slotted armor. Being raised near Yuffie, the three of them had been taught with Materia. Riku had been given a Cure, Kairi a Shiva, and Sora a Fire. Not that that was what any of them had brought when they went up on that test flight. He was pretty sure Riku brought a Barrier in case they crashed, and Kairi probably had something in one of her pockets. All Sora himself had brought was an All, trying to see what happened when you brought Materia into space.

Capital M-Magic is on an entirely different level. The closest thing he could compare it to was what Cid and Yuffie’s World had done, launching them all to safety. It’s something that could only be taught to those with aptitude, and isn’t nearly as limited in what it can do.

Materia has some crazy powers, but without the gem you can’t use it, same with magic. True Magic didn’t need an artifact, though it would be stronger with one. Merlin’s walking stick was a great example, the Wizard used it when he threw around Magic. And Merlin threw around Magic. Almost every problem could, in theory, be solved with it, and one as strong as Merlin had little reason to bother with the... contemporary setting he found himself in.

So here he is, trying to create a focal artifact. Merlin had recommended a stick like his staff, but that hadn’t quite felt right. A staff was all well and good for magic, but what happened when you also needed to attack directly? No, what Sora is working on would be better termed a lance. Cid had been one of their main trainers when it came to fighting, and the Dragoon style of fighting had always fit well with Sora.

While the main body could be considered a staff, strong and cloth wrapped, with the requisite linkages for materia slots, the head of the staff segment quickly gave way to a blade edge, curving around before straightening out again, piercing straight upwards. There’s definitely room for improvement, but with what he has and the time he could afford, this was the best he can do. Camelot isn’t amazingly abundant with the materials needed to create magically resonant weapons and accessories, and he’s going to need the rest for the accessories he wanted to make. None of them had left Traverse town with a bevy of equipment or armor, and with no idea when any of them would be able to get home, or if the other two had wound up somewhere with access to any kind of forge, even if it wasn’t the Synthesis Forge he was used to... Better safe than sorry. After he’s done with the lance, it’ll be on to making some baseline accessories for all three of them.

They’ll find each other. They always had before.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> > Sora's first lance, currently unnamed as he doesn't consider it complete. A long wooden spear with a swooping pointed metal blade on one end, and a small endcap of the same light-colored metal. The haft is wrapped in cloth and has two materia slots towards the tip.


	5. Riku: Wonderland (Fallen)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Riku finally catches a break.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Content note: Riku is (very briefly) misgendered in this chapter. It was unintentional, there is an apology, and all the resulting feelings are sorted out relatively quickly and painlessly.

**With Vorpal Sword in Hand**

Nanaki wakes up from a perfectly pleasant nap to the familiar tones of Tifa cursing out a piece of machinery. She’s adept enough at flying a gummi ship – Cid had made sure everyone with opposable thumbs learned at least the basics once it became clear that they’d really, actually failed to save the Planet this time and there was no going back – and as a small-town mountain kid has always had a firm grasp on basic repair skills. But she certainly doesn’t love it, not like Cid loves everything mechanical capable of achieving liftoff or even like Cloud finds peace in the guts of an engine, and she’s never been shy about voicing her feelings.

He bends forward, stretching out his spine and joints, before padding over to the command pad. Tifa notices him come up and gives a distracted wave as she pokes at the wires sticking out of the panel she’s opened.

“Navigation still broken?” Nanaki asks, squinting at the panel. This isn’t really work he can help with, but he’s always liked knowing things about the places he is. If that place  _ has _ to be a tiny ship in between worlds, he’s still going to do his best to learn about it.

Tifa sighs, which is answer enough, and leans back in the pilot’s chair. “Yeah. And Cait Sith doesn’t have a signal and is still running on battery power, so we’re definitely  _ somewhere _ in the Darklands but Hel if I have any idea how to get out without a functional Navi-gummi.”

“Is there anywhere nearby we could land and try looking at the gummi directly?” Nanaki asks, not holding out much hope.

Tifa shrugs. They both know that the Darklands are mostly a whole lot of nothing. You can fly through them for eons – and walk through for longer. The trick is finding a place where you can transition from one mode of transport to the other, which is only possible on something that used to be a World, but hasn’t quite disintegrated yet. And even if they do land, if the problem is with the gummi and not the connection, they’re pretty well stuck.

“Well,” Nanaki tries, tail swishing anxiously, “we can try. And if it doesn’t work, we had a pretty good run of it.”

Cait Sith, which is propped up in one of the other chairs and eerily still so as to conserve power, interjects. “’Pretty good run of it” it says, “sure as if we just won a few wee bets a’ the chocobo races, aye? ‘S an understatement for savin’ the Planet as many times as we’s done and ye know it! An’ that’s leavin’ out the past coupla years o’ evacuating falling Worlds so it is.”

“You’re both right,” Tifa agrees, smiling a little, “I just hope everyone else is still OK.”

The three of them sit quietly and contemplate the (un)likelihood of finding a fallen World and being able to fix whatever’s wrong with their Navi-gummi, making peace with the fact that they might never make it back to the Light and their friends. Tifa rests a friendly hand on Nanaki’s shoulder and slumps further in her seat. The darkness around them is still and silent as the grave.

Naturally, this is when they nearly get hit by a giant, brightly-colored tea pot as it spins away from the scraps of the World it came from, launched into orbit when that World fell – just visible in the corner of the viewscreen.

* * *

They land the gummi ship on the bones of the fallen World. It’s fairly quiet, although Tifa thinks she can hear running water in the distance. Broken trees and tangled vines make everything loom twisted in the darkness, although the clearing they’ve landed in has some scattered bricks around, suggesting that some kind of dwelling was here once. Tifa even spots broken glass and some bits of painted wood, which might once have been a window.

She props Cait Sith up at the door to the ship – even on battery power it makes a great lookout – and clambers up onto one of the wings to get at the Navi-gummi from the outside.

Tifa decouples it from the rest of the ship and in doing so immediately finds the problem – the gummi is chipped, and the chip is at a connection point. Well, that’s definitely not good. They  _ might _ be able to fix it. Cid or Cloud almost certainly would be able to, Tifa thinks ruefully, and cradles the gummi carefully in her arms to jump back down so she and the others can brainstorm together.

Bending her knees to absorb the impact, she looks up to see Nanaki is not paying her any attention at all. His gaze is fixed firmly on the remains of the forest, ears twitching in the way that means the big cat is trying to pinpoint something.

At first, Tifa thinks he might be listening for the water source she heard earlier, but slowly it occurs to her that the sound  _ she _ had heard came from the other direction.

“Nanaki?” she asks quietly, at last, when the watchful silence has stretched on long and tense enough that she can feel her feet shifting into a guard stance without any conscious input from her brain. “What’s wrong?”

Nanaki turns, golden eye aglow with hope and confusion. “I can sense the Lifestream – there is some piece of the Planet here.”

* * *

The keyblade is helping, definitely, but it can’t do their fighting for them. Riku isn’t sure when the last time they slept was, when they last saw daylight, or even a star.

Time doesn’t mean anything once a World has fallen. All there is is darkness, full of Heartless. All there is is fighting off those Heartless again, and again, and again, and then either collapsing in whatever little nook of relative safety you could find or wandering onwards.

The wandering doesn’t even feel hopeful anymore, just habit. When in doubt, more forward.

Riku is starting to doubt they’re going to make it out of here, but they have to at least try. Their friends need them – they can’t stop now. What if Sora’s hurt? What if Kairi didn’t get away from the witch?

( _ And?  _ whispers a voice at the back of their mind,  _ what if they are? It’s been so long – days before the World fell, who even knows how long after – what makes you think you’ll be able to save them? What makes you think they’re still there to be saved?) _

Riku tells the voice to shut up, and summons their keyblade again as they hear the soft skittering of approaching Shadows, dropping into a defensive stance.

The problem is, they’re tired. The endless slog is, well, endless and a slog. They’ve used up most of their supplies, and all of the few potions and ethers they’d managed to find while wandering Wonderland before it fell. Their bruises have bruises, their clothes are full of dirt and tears, and they’re uncomfortably aware of the high likelihood of their skinned knees being infected.

This is to say, they’ve been trying to conserve magic. Hold it back for emergencies. They’ve only got a Barrier materia with them, but it’s equipped in a bracelet and it’s saved them more than once. It isn’t at all leveled, Yuffie had already been skeptical enough of their “take materia to space and see if it works the same” plan without trusting them with anything more valuable.

Right now, as they’re knocked to the ground by a Soldier they didn’t see coming and their keyblade flies out of their hands, vanishing as it hits the ground, Riku is pretty sure it’s the most valuable piece of magical rock in the universe.

They cast Barrier, and it buys them enough time to scramble upright and summon their keyblade again.

* * *

The flare of the Planet’s particular flavor of magic had been unmistakable, but as Nanaki leads Tifa further into the shadows he’s plagued by a nagging worry that he has, in fact, made a mistake. It’s been  _ years _ after all, since he last felt the touch of the Planet – and the Worlds are vast. Maybe it’s just similar. Maybe he’s forgotten after all.

Still, they have to at least try. Besides, whatever it was was certainly magic, and Nanaki has spent long enough working to evacuate Worlds that have tipped over the edge to build a solid instinct for running  _ towards _ the danger just in case there’s someone who needs help.

This turns out to be a very good instinct to have indeed: as the two friends come around a rock, they come face to face with almost a dozen Heartless, two Big Bellies and a double pawful of Shadows. Backed up against a different rock is a silver-haired child – a teenager, perhaps, Nanaki has never been good at judging Human ages – who faces the Heartless with a determined expression and what is unmistakably a keyblade.

Nanaki takes a moment to stare, before coming to his senses and casting Fire at the back of the nearest Big Belly. It stumbles, distracted from its charge towards the Human child, and rounds on Nanaki instead. Good. He leaps as it comes towards him, up and forward, crashing down on its back and knocking it off balance.

Long experience tells him that Tifa is working her way through the crowd of Shadows towards the child, so Nanaki focuses on the Big Belly he has in his claws. By the time it has gone up in smoke, he turns to see most of the Shadows are gone.

Tifa lines up a beautiful roundhouse kick that connects solidly with the other Big Belly’s head and sends it stumbling off towards the kid, who swings the keyblade with a practiced move (and,  _ Planet _ , how alarming it is that this child has a keyblade, and has had it long enough to gain  _ experience _ ) and dispatches the Heartless into nothing. A flickering light rises up in the dark until it fades from view.

A quick Thunder takes care of the straggling Shadows, and then Nanaki and Tifa are left in the aftermath with the child, who is glaring at them suspiciously. Nanaki is not sure what gender the Human is, with the long hair and swishy – if torn and dirty – clothes, and resolves not to try to guess. He’s wrong more often than he’s right. Humans are so strange.

“Hello, little Human,” says Nanaki with a grin composed entirely of sharp teeth, on the basis that it usually amuses Marlene and what works with one Human child ought to work with another. Tifa, apparently, disagrees, and swats him gently over the head.

“Don’t be weird, Nanaki.” She scolds, but she’s avoided his ears so she can’t be  _ that _ mad at him. The woman turns to the child and gives the little bow traditional to the Humans of their World. “My name’s Tifa. Sorry about my friend, here.”

The child continues to look wary, but bobs a quick bow back. “I’m Riku.”

“How did you get here, Riku?” Nanaki asks, because he is curious. He dodges as Tifa attempts to subtly trod on his paw. “What? How is that weird, Tifa?”

“Not all human kids are Marlene,” Tifa says, hands propped on her hips. “Marlene has an unusually high weird tolerance due to a unique upbringing. Strangers just asking things like that, especially older strangers, without any lead up, is weird.”

Riku, who had indeed seemed to be tensing up further when Nanaki had asked his question, suddenly looks – interested. The keyblade vanishes. “Marlene? Marlene Wallace?”

Tifa blinks at them, surprised. “Yes? You know her?”

“She’s like... my cousin? Spiritually, I guess?” Riku pulls a face. “She and Barrett and Reeve aren’t around too much but we’re close to the same age, so when they’re dropping off refugees we all usually get sent off together...”

Nanaki is still confused, but Tifa looks as if several lightbulbs have gone on at once. She beams delightedly and points a finger at Riku. “You’re one of Cid’s kids! The one Yuffie said he co-adopted cuz the Moogles made a bunch of sad faces at him about having some Human socialization time!”

“Um, yes,” says Riku, looking down at their shoes. Apparently, getting recognized has sent them into a shy spell. “So you’re... Marlene’s Aunt Tifa then? Miss Lockheart?”

“Call me Tifa, kid. Actually, Hel, if you think of Marlene as your cousin I think that somehow technically also makes me your aunt as well.”

Which is all very well, but...

“This is all very lovely and the Worlds are indeed quite small,” Nanaki interrupts, “But it explains neither what Riku is doing here, nor what the Call I felt earlier might have been.”

“Call?” Riku asks, instead of answering the question about themself. A worry for later, that.

“I felt something of our Planet,” Nanaki explains, assuming that if Riku is familiar with Cid and Yuffie and the others they probably have some basis of knowledge about where all those people came from. “Magic born of the Lifestream.”

“Lifestream magic... oh! Materia is Lifestream, right? Yuffie said something about it.” Riku says, and shyly holds up their arm. A silvery bracelet, with a glimmer that indicates an equipped materia, circles their wrist. “I cast a Barrier earlier, so... maybe that’s what you felt?”

Nanaki nods slowly. “That could be it. Materia is rare, these days, and I wasn’t expecting to feel any being cast.”

“Well,” Riku says, scratching the back of their head, “Sorry to have led you on a wild goose chase then.”

* * *

It took some convincing to get Riku to follow them, which Tifa is worried about but willing to chalk up to a wariness of people who are, essentially, strangers. But still – anything’s gotta be better than wandering around a fallen world getting endlessly attacked by Heartless, right? How long was Riku there? The implications are alarming, so Tifa is trying not to think about it.

Anyway, the thing that finally tipped the kid over the edge was mentioning that their gummi ship needed fixing, and lamenting the fact that she wasn’t much of a mechanic and Nanaki didn’t have opposable thumbs. Riku had lit up at that – apparently Cid made sure all the kids knew their way around a gummi block, which well, Tifa honestly wasn’t sure what  _ else _ she should have expected from Cid.

On the way back, Riku stops suddenly, keyblade appearing in hand. A moment later, the shadows around them seem to boil until suddenly they are Shadows, unblinking yellow eyes staring at the three as they bob arythmically.

The first one lunges for them, and Tifa goes to punch it but she’s forced to pull up short as Riku is suddenly in front of her, keyblade braced to take the full force of the Shadow’s attack.

There are enough Heartless that Tifa has plenty of targets when she ducks around Riku’s defense to attack, but once all the Shadows are defeated it sticks with her for the rest of the walk back to the gummi ship. A glance at Nanaki, who’s looking at Riku contemplatively, confirms that she probably wasn’t the only one who noticed.

Riku’s first instinct was to protect them, the adults (well, Tifa was an adult. Frankly she couldn’t remember old Bugenhagen’s note about when Nanaki was going to hit adulthood by his species’ standards, but honestly by the third time one saves the Planet Tifa is pretty sure one counts as at least an honorary adult).

It’s telling. Of what, exactly, she isn’t sure yet, but she resolves to keep an eye on the feeling.

“Ye’re back!” Cait Sith chirps when the three of them stumble back into the clearing holding their gummi ship. “And who’s this one wi’ ye then?”

“This is Riku,” Tifa introduces, resting one hand on Riku’s shoulder. “One of the kids Cid adopted with the Moogles.”

“Yuffie wasna pullin’ oor legs eh?” Cait Sith actively engages some of its servos to give a small wave. “Nice ta meetcha youngin! Ah’m Cait Sith.”

“We’ve met,” Riku says, smiling for the first time Tifa’s seen. “Or, well, I’ve met one of you.”

“It’s hard to get updates for Cait Sith sent between Worlds,” Tifa explains, “Honestly any communication is hard enough, and apparently updates take up... way more bandwidth than anything else. We’re just lucky Reeve had mostly finished the autonomous modes so Cait Sith can be in two places at once...”

“Indeed,” Nanaki agrees, “now, Riku, this is the Navi-gummi we think is broken. Would you mind having a look?”

Riku is already leaning over to examine the gummi, hands stretching out to investigate the gummi. Tifa watches while sitting down next to Cait Sith.

“An’ how’d ye find one o’ Cid’s brood wanderin’ a fallen World, Tifa?” Cait Sith asks her.

“Well, remember that bit of Lifestream Nanaki felt earlier? Turns out it was Riku – he’s got a Barrier materia and-” Tifa cuts herself off when Riku  _ flinches _ . “Is everything okay?”

“Sure, yeah, I..” Riku starts, stumbling over words in a way the kid hasn’t before in the short time since they met. “I,  _ kupo, _ I just... not he?”

“You aren’t?” Tifa asks, to clarify, and gets a nod and a notable lack of eye contact.

“I’m sorry, that was rude of me. I should have asked. Riku, what do you like to be called instead?”

“Um. They, usually? But... but sometimes he and sometimes...” Riku gets even quieter, and although Tifa is sure Nanaki and Cait Sith aren’t having any problems she has to strain to hear them. “... sometimes she.”

“Okay, thank you for telling us,” Tifa says, “Will you let us know when you’re in one of those other moods, so we know what to call you?”

“You don’t think... you don’t think it’s weird?” Riku asks, darting a glance up at her. “It’s – it’s easier, in Mooglish,  _ kupo _ , but the switching, some people just don’t...”

Tifa shakes her head, her best approximation of Aerith’s most reassuring smile pasted on her face. “Nah. Cid and Yuffie have told you about Cloud, right? He goes by ‘he’ almost all the time, but sometimes he’s Miss Cloud and she or Miss Cloud and still he or just somewhere in between. Cloud and I grew up together, I’m used to it.”

“Humans are odd,” Nanaki agrees, “I’ve never been sure why you insist on such narrow boxes for gender in the first place.”

Riku laughs, a little watery thing, and Tifa finds herself grinning along with them.

Yeah, she can see what Cid saw in this kid that made him decide adoption was a reasonable option.

* * *

It’s been quite a day, and Riku isn’t sure what their feelings are doing at this point. They’ve just had so  _ many _ of them in the last few hours.

After the whole pronoun thing has been hashed out, Tifa cleans up their (yep, definitely infected) skinned knees while they inspect the Navi-gummi. It’s not irreparable, fortunately, but it’s going to need replacing sooner rather than later.

They fix the connection with Cait Sith’s help – being a robot with tiny paws, it can hold the connections in place while they solder without risking anyone’s fingers to burning, and Tifa gives them a boost up onto the wing so they can reconnect it.

This ends up taking almost an hour longer than intended, because Riku can suddenly see how if they move  _ this _ gummi here and turn  _ that _ gummi around they can protect the repaired connection so that if the Navigummi is hit in the same way that fried it in the first place, the damage won’t be as bad.

They get back down to find that apparently the other three have decided it’s dinner time. Someone’s built a fire, and Nanaki’s keeping an eye on a pot of some kind of soup that smells  _ amazing _ .

Riku suddenly realizes how long it’s been since they’ve eating anything that wasn’t a mushroom or emergency gummi ship ration as their stomach rumbles audibly.

Tifa smiles at them as she hops down from the gummi ship’s door, clearly having heard. “Hey you. Finished making adjustments?”

Riku nods, and Tifa hands them the bundle of cloth in her hands. It turns out to be a towel and some clothes – long, loose black pants and a white tank top.

At their questioning look, Tifa shrugs sheepishly. “I’m the only one, well, other than you, who actually wears clothes. These are some of my spare pajamas – hopefully they’re okay for now. We’ll get your things cleaned, this is just for the moment. I thought you’d like to get cleaned up before dinner.”

Oh,  _ kupo _ , that sounds amazing, actually. Riku’s not sure how long it’s been since they left Traverse, but the closest they’ve gotten to a shower since then was getting (fortunately not scalding) tea poured on them while they were tiny and trying to find clues in Wonderland. They head off into the ship without any argument.

* * *

Dinner is ready by the time Riku comes back from their shower, pants cuffed around their ankles so they don’t drag on the ground. Nanaki watches as they practically inhale two bowls of soup and then immediately fall asleep, and wonders.

He knows what materia being cast feels like. It’s not quite like the Lifestream, not really – except for when Aerith had been casting.

Sure, it’s possible that he’s mistaken. Nanaki wasn’t expecting to feel anything cast by materia that wasn’t one of his companions, particularly not here. The surprise might just have made it feel different. But that doesn’t quite click. He resolves to pay more attention the next time Riku casts.

He is a Guardian of the Planet. The Planet is no more, but perhaps... perhaps it would appreciate it if he guarded this small Human instead.

It feels... important.


	6. Kairi: Olympus Coliseum (pt 2)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Kairi endures some literal training from Hell, and Meg averts a fashion disaster.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter is just squeaking in under the line of Saturday this week because we're both in the same place for family stuff and haven't had the free time. Whoops. Enjoy! -H

**Not Exactly a Dream Come True**

“You know,” Kairi manages to pant out, hands braced on her shaking knees, “I think I read somewhere... that... a hero’s worth is, isn’t the size of their strength, it’s- it’s the strength of their- heart.”

Cloud, standing in front of her, raises a single eyebrow. None of the rest of his face moves. It would be very impressive, if Kairi was in the mood for being impressed instead of just lying down here, in a suspicious puddle in the land of the dead, and never getting back up again.

Her lungs burn, her legs ache, and her heart feels like it’s going to beat its way out of her chest via her throat. _Kupo,_ but she can’t remember the last time she was this tired.

“So...” Kairi starts, awkward in the face of Cloud’s silence.

“Three more laps,” Cloud decides, which will bring her total up to 25, five fewer than he’d demanded when they started.

Kairi tries not to sag too noticeably in sweet, glorious relief. Unfortunately for her, that relief is soon cut short:

“And then you can start on the squats.”

* * *

“ _I’m Kairi,” said the kid, blinking bright blue eyes up at him, “thank you for-”_

_The first Heartless poped up before she could finish whatever she was going to thank him for. Cloud cursed, spinning to face it and drawing the Buster Sword. The girl, Kairi, whatever, leaned around him to see what all the fuss is. He shoved her back behind him._

What are they doing here? _Vincent demanded, hovering._ There are no Hearts for them in the Underworld.

_They’d been here for months, after all, and hadn’t seen so much as a stray antenna. Two minutes into the kid waking up and suddenly there were dozens – and not just Shadows. There’d been a couple emblem Heartless as well, maybe half a dozen Soldiers and even a couple Rhapsodies._

_But, well, there were at least two Hearts in the Underworld – and the Heartless had certainly found them._

_Looking back on it, Cloud can’t remember how they separated him from the kid. He’s not used to having civilians in the heat of things, and he’d been cutting through the Heartless as fast as possible. Much good it ever did, with mundane weaponry, but the Underworld sapped strength and magic took a long time to recover._

_But he ended up on the other side of the cavern, guarding against a stream of ice from one of the Rhapsodies, when he heard the scream._

_Turning his head, Cloud could see Kairi backed up against a wall as three Shadows and a Soldier advanced on her. Too far, even at SOLDIER speed, even if he wouldn’t be knocked ass over kettle if he shifted his stance before this Blizzard shot had ended. Vincent stood in front of her, as if that was going to do anything when he was a ghost, or as good as._

_The Soldier lunged forward, directly through Vincent, claws stretching towards Kairi. Cloud felt the most useless he had in a long time, watching it all play out as if in slow-motion._

_The Soldier had never connected. Kairi had swung at it with a fist, a desparate attempt to protect herself, and by the time the arc of her punch had completed a giant purple blade had connected with the Heartless._

_It vanished, leaving behind a glittering light and a shocked thirteen-year-old holding a keyblade nearly bigger than herself. She’d looked down at it, then met Cloud’s startled gaze, and then immediately shifted her stance to something firmer. Took the keyblade in a two-handed grip. Swung it like a bat at the other three Heartless surrounding her._

_Cloud remembers the fight going a lot smoother after that. And in the aftermath, with his usual lack of tact, he’d said:_

“ _We got lucky. Your form is terrible. Let’s fix it.”_

_And that, really, had been that._

* * *

Vincent watches over Cloud’s shoulder, feet somewhere approximating ground level for once, as Kairi slowly guides her keyblade through the precision exercise Cloud has set up for her. She’s concentrating fiercely, brow furrowed slightly and jaw tense, but so far she’s gotten every move correct, without brushing any of the strings hanging around her.

 _She’s improving._ Vincent comments lightly, and Cloud grunts.

“She still hasn’t made it through any of your obstacle courses before the time limit.” The blond points out, and Vincent shrugs in reply.

_Those time limits are standard for Turk certification. Or, well, were standard forty years ago. And she hasn’t made it, but she hasn’t fallen or missed her footing either. Yuffie did a good job with the basics._

She’s a little young, neither of them say. She’s not used to training like this, neither of them say. She’s at a disadvantage because of the Underworld’s oppressive atmosphere, neither of them say.

That’s sort of the point, after all.

Kairi finishes the exercise, ‘sheathing the keyblade with the same motion Cloud uses to put away the Buster, only it vanishes once her hand opens on the grip. That’s a kind of tactical advantage Vincent would have killed for, in his life Before, a weapon that was readily available whenever you needed it, without needing to smuggle it through security.

Now, and perhaps also then, but especially now... he worries about that kind of reliance. Always have a backup plan, and that backup plan might necessitate a second, more physical weapon.

 _We should leave this place soon._ Vincent comments, as idly as possible. Cloud’s shoulders remain relaxed – good, he’s in agreement. _The presence of so many Heartless, although good training, is worrying._

Cloud hums in approval – whether of Vincent’s point, or Kairi’s performance is hard to say.

“Not bad, kid,” says Cloud, and Kairi _beams_ at the praise. “Let’s mosey.”

* * *

Apparently, ‘let’s mosey’ is easier said than done. It takes them a while to find the Gates, two massive structures, gleaming bright in the eternal gloom of the Underworld.

Kairi’s not sure what they’re made of – it’s not quite bone, but it’s definitely organic. They stand next to each other, and _seem_ to go to the same set of stone stairs rising up much further than the eye can see. The fact that there are two still seems suspicious: what if there’s a wrong choice?

It turns out not to matter, because Vincent literally can’t pass through either Gate.

Cloud hisses, a frustrated little sound through his teeth, and opens his mouth to say something but is interrupted by a billowing column of smoke that appears in front of them, in the small gap between the Gates.

“Well well well, whadda we got here?” the figure that appears in the smoke asks, leaning down over the three of them. He’s gray, and faintly blue, and his head is definitely on fire and he doesn’t seem the least bit concerned about it.

Cloud’s hand darts out as soon as the smoke appears, drawing Kairi behind him. She goes without complaint, drawing a little deeper into the warmth of the borrowed cloak still around her shoulders and shivering all the same. Something about this feels deeply wrong in a way she can’t pinpoint.

“Hey there,” says the stranger, with a grin that shows off how very _pointy_ his teeth are. “name’s Hades, Lord of the Dead, the Rich One, the Ruthless King, yaddayadda, you get the picture. But enough about me, back to you – just where do you think you’re going?”

 _We seek to leave, to carry on our travels,_ says Vincent, when the pause has become awkward it becomes clear that Cloud’s not going to answer. _We came here by mistake._

Hades waves a dismissive hand, “Yeah, you and everyone else. Look, you’re dead, you’re in the Underworld, you stay here forever. That’s just how it _works,_ capisce?”

“We’re not, though.” says Cloud, and Kairi’s known these two for a few weeks now, perhaps, but it’s not long enough to read if the tension she can practically feel coming off of Cloud is because of a perceived threat or if he genuinely just hates talking to strangers this much. “Dead, I mean.”

* * *

_Not dead_ , huh, well, that’s certainly not the newest excuse for trying to leave the Underworld, but... Hades peers at the trio of mortals suspiciously. They’re right, actually. Two of them are even still embodied, and the last one is certainly a wandering soul – but not one who actually died.

Which is, you know, inconvenient, because it means none of their shades belong to his domain, or him, by right and these guys... well, two of them look pretty strong. The kid cowering behind the blond one with the silly hair is pretty weedy looking.

But hey, two out of three isn’t bad, and he should probably experiment with feeding the Heartless _something_ before attempting to unleash them on Olympus.

“Riiiiiiight,” Hades says, making a show of tapping pensively at his chin as he looms over the mortals. “Look, that’s all well and good but you can’t just, y’know, _leave_ the Underworld – that’s not how it works.”

The blond squares his stance and a hand drifts towards a sword that, sweet Mother Gaiea, _must_ be compensating for something. Aw, the puny human wants to fight his way out, that’s adorable.

And, maybe, useful. Hades smiles his best used-chariot-salesman grin, and leans in.

“Tell ya what – I’ll make you a deal. The two of you who got the _credentials_ for being alive-” he gestures towards the spikey blond and the kid- “enter the Tournament. If you win, you’ll get the standard package for a chance to get your incorporeal friend here out – the usual Orpheus deal. You lose, and I get to keep your souls for eternity, which makes sense, y’know, if you lose you’re dead. But hey, since I’m such a nice guy... There’s two of you entering? I’ll even throw in a bonus soul if both of you make it to the top.”

It’s perfect, really. The spikey one is clearly some kind of warrior, and pretty confident in his skills if he’s willing to throw down with the Lord of the Underworld at a moment’s notice. But if he’s stuck protecting the kid, stuck with that dead weight attached, well then – that’s a powerful warrior in Hades’ grasp in no time.

The spikey guy and the one without a body exchange wary glances.

 _We... don’t know any other souls here._ The not-a-ghost offers suspiciously. _So isn’t it unnecessary for both of them to enter?_

“Oh?” Hades tugs on the thread of connection leading from the blond into the depths of the Underworld, makes a gesture like he’s reeling in a fish – not that he’s had any practice, really, nothing worth catching swims in the Styx. “Not even this guy?”

A shade swirls into existence in front of them, and the spikey guy’s eyes widen. Hades smirks.

Gotcha.

* * *

Hades makes a gesture, and Cloud braces for something terrible – rocks to fall, fire to break out, a horde of ghosts or Heartless to fight. It’s worse than all of that.

It’s Zack.

He’s a little faint around the edges, but it’s _him,_ the uncontrollable hair, the Mako-bright blue eyes, the friendly little smile that is, was, _is_ his default expression. He’s dressed in the same SOLDIER uniform he always is in Cloud’s memories, and there’s even a Buster sword on his back – identical to the one Cloud’s wearing, minus a few scratches.

It’s not possible, though. Zack died on the Planet, he was part of the Lifestream. Cloud has _seen him in the Lifestream,_ and then the Planet died. Self-destructed. There’s only whatever Materia made it off-Planet with them when they left now, in the Universe, left of the Lifestream. This shouldn’t be possible. Zack _shouldn’t be here._

Zack’s shade looks around, and visible startles when he catches sight of Cloud. The wide-eyed shock lasts a bare moment, and then is replaced by an achingly-familiar beaming smile. Nothing the shade does makes noise, speaking included, but Cloud’s heard the words too many times, at too high a volume too close to his ears, to mistake what he says.

‘Hey, Cloud!’

It can’t be real. It can’t be possible.

Cloud isn’t sure he cares.

“Fine,” he hears himself saying, “it’s a deal.”

* * *

“Shit, where’s Vincent when you need him for the sneaky part?” Cloud groans, and then makes a face. “Sorry, language.”

“It’s fine, _kupo,_ ” Kairi tells him, tugging at the slightly-oversized gloves Cloud’s shoved at her. They’re bright yellow, and don’t even come close to matching anything else she’s wearing. “I don’t think hiding my hands is doing anything to hide my identity, though.”

“Probably not.” Cloud agrees, hands propped on his hips as he looks her up and down.

It’s not very impressive, Kairi thinks. Cloud, dressed in all black with a shocking number of buckles and belts and little brass bolts, with the Buster sword strapped to his back, looks impressive, even though she knows it’s all borrowed from Vincent (she’s not sure _why_ , their play-arguments have never made it clear what happened to necessitate the loan, but she does know that Cloud particularly likes to complain about the shoes).

Kairi, on the other hand, is on the small side for a thirteen-year-old, and although she’s got some muscle from the forge and Yuffie’s acrobatic’s lessons nothing from Cloud’s literal-Hell training seems to have stuck yet, visually. Her hair’s gotten longer than she usually keeps it, long enough that it’s in the way but not _quite_ enough to tie back. She’s still wearing the same outfit she left Traverse in, which is kind of gross at this point but it’s not like there are any laundry facilities in the Underworld. The cloak is helping, since it hides her outfit

Cloud had explained, quietly, once they made it up into the sunlight (she hadn’t realized how much she’d been straining her eyes all the time until she suddenly didn’t have to) and to the town of Thebes, that he was pretty sure Hades hadn’t recognized her as the kid they’d stolen away from him but they didn’t want to risk it. Kairi agreed, especially since she can’t remember anything between the witch and Vincent’s knock, so none of them have any idea why Hades had had her in the first place.

In any case that leaves them here, outside an accessories store, attempting to disguise Kairi. It doesn’t _seem_ like it should be this hard, but, well, Kairi feels like she shouldn’t stick to things she’d usually be happy to wear, which makes it hard to choose, and it’s rapidly becoming clear that Cloud is a complete disaster about these things.

Cloud makes his frustrated little hissing noise, and frowns down at her outfit. “We just need something you can move in, that people will look at more than they look at your face. Vincent – or, Hel, Tifa too, probably – would tell us that both of us need to catch enough attention for the crowd to _like_ us so we can make it through this tournament thing. Balance those things. It can’t be that hard.”

“It probably can,” another voice interjects, “if this is the best you can come up with.”

Kairi looks up to see a woman in a purple dress leaning on the door frame to the shop. She’s very pretty, and the smirk on her face when she looks at Cloud softens when turned on Kairi in a way that doesn’t feel patronizing. Just... a sharp kind of friendly.

“I’m Megara, call me Meg.” says the woman, “Look, I know it’s none of my business but do you want some help? I heard you say you’re entering the Tournament, and that’s pretty dicey these days with Mr. Lord of the Dead himself sponsoring so many... unsavory characters.”

Cloud hesitates, but Kairi smiles back at the woman. She can’t say how she knows, but something tells her Meg is actually trying to help.

“That would be great, thank you!”

* * *

Meg is having a _fabulous_ time. This is the best decision she’s made in ages. Certainly the most _fun_ decision she’s made in ages, possibly since Wonder Boy went off into the stars to fight some epic destined war and left her to keep the home fires burning, or whatever. Meg very much has better things to do than sit around and tend a hearth, but she knows Thebes in particular means a lot to Herc so she keeps an eye on things. Helps Phil out around the Coliseum. Slips Pegasus too many treats, as usual.

And that’s been, you know, fine, but she’s forgotten how much she likes having a baby hero around to tease. Herc’s still good for it, but with the wins had come the confidence and with the confidence, well, it’s just a different kind of challenge. This is downright _nostalgic._

Kairi, the kid had introduced herself as, comes out from behind the curtain in the third outfit Meg’s helped her pick, and she looks tentatively excited about it. Uncomfortable, but that’s more because it isn’t the kid’s style than genuinely not wanting to wear it.

The terrible, ratty cloak is, apparently, non-negotiable. Nor will Cloud, Kairi’s tired, grumpy mentor figure (and _oh_ , isn’t that familiar) relinquish any of the black or the buckles or impractical little bits of armor. Or the incongruously delicate little pink ribbon tied to one arm.

Meg has worked with that, leaning into the dark-and-gloomy aesthetic even though it’s very clearly something Kairi would reject in most other situations. And the effect, if she does say so herself, is fairly excellent.

She’s dressed the kid in mostly black – gray shorts over solid black leggings, thick enough to give her knees some protection if she skids on them, which almost everyone in the Tournament seems to end up doing at one point or another. A fitted black long-sleeved shirt, and a pair of gloves that actually fit (sadly not black, the only pair that worked was a light brown), and swap the white running shoes for a similar pair in, yes, black, with laces the same red as the cloak.

They’ll have to hit up the armor shop next door, get her some real knee protection and maybe bracers – in a bronze to match Cloud’s mis-matched armour? - and do something about the hair, but it’s good. Makes her look a little older, a little mysterious, visually a clear connection to Cloud, and with the cloak clasped properly it hides half her face no problem.

“Lookin’ good, short stuff,” Meg says, smiling at Kairi. She gets an answering beam of sunshine back. “So, how would you feel about a haircut?”

* * *

“We’re closed.” says the satyr at the registration desk, and then immediately reveals the lie when he yells, “NEXT!”

Kairi – in the outfit Meg’s chosen for her, all the hair that would go into a ponytail in a ponytail and the rest shaved off into an undercut – slumps a little and turns to leave but Cloud snags her by the cloak and levels his best _I’m not mad I’m just disappointed_ glare (stolen in equal parts from Aerith and Tifa) at the satyr.

“Look, pal, this ain’t a- a- a babysittin’ service! I got three words for ya: No kids!” the satyr tells him, and Cloud moves only to block the next person in line from passing them by at the second holler of “NEXT!”

“C’mon Phil,” Meg cuts in as she sashays up to the desk, “Herc was just a kid when he started with you. Give this hero in training a chance, huh?”

The satyr visibly wavers. Cloud continues to glare. Kairi perks up, excited, and that seems to be what gets them through.

“Fine,” Phil sighs, “You win. Sign here and here, we’re not liable for any injury, death, or death-like injury that may occur in your quest to win the Pegasus Cup, try not to die.”

They sign on the dotted lines, and Phil – still muttering under his breath – waves them into the Coliseum.

Showtime.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> > Kairi's first keyblade, Tempest Breaker. A heavy purple keyblade, with a single-sided handgaurd and several materia slots. While the cross-guard glows a friendly pink, the blade itself is a large piece of metal that almost certainly means business.
> 
> All the nerd bonus points if you can spot the Aeneid references....
> 
> Updated the notes with the proper blockquote - L


	7. Sora: Camelot (pt 2)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Sora acquires a new teacher, and Arthur meets a squirrel.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And we continue the unfortunate trend of cutting it far too close. That's on me this week, H is off moving. Enjoy! -L

**Every Last Trick in the Trade**

In all honesty, Sora wasn’t quite expecting this turn of events. Or at least, he hadn’t expected to be a squirrel anytime this week. Merlin chose today to turn the three of them into squirrels, intending to teach Arthur about the nature of gravity, and Sora about transformation magic. Merlin’s attention was mostly focused on Arthur at the moment, which was perfectly fine for Sora, trying to figure out how this magic felt - certainly odd. His lance had vanished off somewhere when they transformed, but he can still feel the connection to the materia slotted on it, as though he could focus a spell through it if he tried, so it's definitely somewhere within the spellform, but how in kupo he can how to use it without  _ having _ it is beyond him right now. Merlin shouts, drawing Sora out of his pondering. He glances up to see Arthur leaping across a gap, only for the branch he lands on to snap, dropping the boy-now-squirrel further to a branch below.

“Now, what did I tell you? Always look before you leap!” As Merlin starts in on a lecture on forward thinking, Sora takes a moment to center himself, feeling the way that this body wants to react to the jump ahead, before taking off in a sprint, clearing the same distance that Arthur had, though aiming for a less persnickety branch. Just in time too, as Arthur makes his way forward, Merlin calling out after him.

“Here, lad, gravity is a strange thing isn’t it? What goes up, must come down after all. Now, what would you say if I told you that it wasn’t just a pull on you, but also you pulling on everything else?”

“But, if I have gravity, then why doesn’t everything get stuck to me? It seems awfully strong, since everything falls down.”

“Ah, but you’re almost there! The trick here is, that the very earth beneath us is what’s attracting things. Like a huge magnet!” At Arthur’s confused look, Merlin continues. “It’s a… well how to… Sora, could you explain a magnet to Arthur?” 

After a moment, the thought of how his lance could work comes to mind.

“You remember how the first time I tried to push thunder magic through my lance, it wound up attracting all the metal scale around the forge? My lance was acting as a magnet for that. Gravity works a lot like that as well, but it becomes stronger depending on the size of objects. So while we are attracting things, we just aren’t producing a very strong pull.”

“Yes, in fact, that’s how you make bigger atoms out of the small ones my boys, they all- all float about in stars but there’s quite a lot of them, you see, and so, and so-”

Arthur looks up, sees an approaching blur, and attempts to stop but it is already far too late. 

"-they collide." Merlin finishes just as Arthur and the approaching blur slam into each other at speed, tumbling to the ground in a tangled pile of furry tails. "Oh dear."

* * *

Sora is of the opinion, in fact, that he rather likes this squirrel. Arthur, on the other hand, is having a kup of a time. A female squirrel, in brilliant red fur, was currently making every effort to enamor the poor boy to herself. Not for lack of trying, but it seems so far she wasn't having much luck. Arthur has steadily become more hesitant around her, attempting to hide behind Merlin and Sora, only for Merlin to have scampered off to another branch, and Sora politely but firmly keeping Arthur in front of him.

“Look, I told you, I’m a boy, I’m human! I’m not a squirrel, or I guess, I won’t be in a little while.”

“ _ Chik-chitt-chitter-chit? Chickkit-chit-chik. _ ” She gives a sad look at Arthur, and a hopeful glance at Sora. Much to Sora’s surprise, the words come through loud and clear. Despite being in an entirely different language, the words she spoke were clear as day. ‘ _ Does that matter? Even if it does, I would still come with you. _ ’

“ _ Three new squirrels, the same day as a burst of  _ Chik-chi-sqrr-Chit _ , of fuzzy air, one of whom doesn’t even speak proper Sciurian? This isn’t the first time we’ve had púcaí in this forest, and it won’t be the last. I want to come with you, see the world you all are from. _ ”

“ _ Then, why the show of affection? You could easily follow us without even having to show yourself. _ ” Sciurian comes easily, the language has a rhythm to it, of chirps and calls that make a surprising amount of sense to Sora.

“ _ Not every púca that has come through here has been friendly. Affection throws of most enough that facades will drop and true natures revealed. He has a good heart, as do you. _ ”

“ _Well, I say madam, such an idea would be, would be..._ ” Merlin starts, before an idea catches him “ _Would be quite lovely actually, poor Arthur here could use some experience with people outside of his family and ourselves…_ _What er, what did you say your name was dear?_ ”

“ _ Guenevere, Fourth of my line, last of my siblings. I look forward to journeying with you. _ ”

“ _ Ah yes, welcome indeed young Gueneve- Guenev- Guenevere!? Oh bother. _ ” Merlin’s face goes through a series of expressions ranging from shock to excitement, before dropping, both figuratively and literally: he falls from the tree to the ground with a thump. A moment later Merlin’s voice explodes forth again, a tinge of irritation in it. “Everything complicated, one bit after another, all one big medieval mess this business. Feh! Lads, we’d best be off, and you as well madam. Best we figure this all out somewhere with some actual tea.”

* * *

A squirrel, a sparrow, a sandpiper and a very irritable owl choose the same perch, a wizened and warped thing overlooking a positively dreary cottage. Merlin had told them all to make their way here, although for what precisely, he’d been rather cagey about. Coming up the way through the forest, the Wizard nods at the quartet of creatures, rapping on the door sharply.

“Mim, you old goat you, get out here! What the devil are you up to these days?” As the door opens, Merlin is blustered back as the inhabitant of the cottage makes herself known.

“Is that Merlin? Merlin the great bungler? Merlin the twice-trod toad? Why, what could one want with a wicked old witch like me? I’ve games to play, and bad to do!”   


“I take it then, Mim, that you’re as bored as I’ve been these last few years. After all, you’ve not even tried to overthrow the kingdom in the last decade!” At this, Mim rolls her eyes, and lets out a great huff.

“Bah, that got old the third time.” Mim says, before raising an eyebrow at Merlin. “And what on earth are you doing out here, bored as you so say?”

“Dear madam, I should like to propose a  _ Wizard’s Duel _ . Heavens knows we could both use the exercise after all.” Mim snaps on this, eyes practically beaming with energy. Truely, Merlin is having some trouble looking straight at her.

“Ohohoho! A duel! After all these years you want to try me on again? Hope to win back some of that lost glory?” As Merlin flusters, Mim lets out a guffaw. “You’re on, you thrice-worn overcoat! Now, let's see…”

The Sparrow pipes up when Mim goes into a thoughtful stance, questioning the Owl. “Say, Archimedes, what does he mean by a Wizard’s Duel?”

“Well, traditionally, a Wizard’s Duel is fought between two players, a battle of wits, though the rules are never quite the same twice, of course. The last one Merlin fought with Mim was what wrecked quite so much havoc out here, though who's to say what the devil he’s got in mind this time around. Just uh, just watch boy, we’ll see soon enough.” And just in time, as Mim bursts forth with a few rules of her own.

“Rule One, no mineral, or vegetable. Only animal. Rule Two, no silly made up creatures… Like platypi. Rule Three, no time stopping!” As Mim prepares herself, rolling up sleeves and checking pockets, Merlin interjects one final rule;   
  
“Rule Four: Whosoever trains the best Apprentice, wins.”

“Done! I- Wait, what?”

“You heard me Madam! Whosoever between us trains the best Apprentice wins this match!”

Mim stammers, hastily looking across the area, “But-But I… I don’t have an Apprentice! And neither did you, last I checked! You’ve been bumbling along waiting for, for whoever it was you saw all those years ago, not-not training anyone!”

“Now Madam, let it not be said I don’t come prepared! After all, _my_ apprentice is in those trees over there, the little bird just there, you see. And I’ve also taken the liberty to, er, find a young fellow for you as well.” At Merlin’s nod, and Archimedes’ shove, the Sandpiper took flight, flitting forth, between trees and rocks, landing on Merlin’s shoulder. “May I present to you; Sora.”

* * *

Merlin and the others had left a few hours ago, with nothing more than a wink and a reminder to, “Be back by midnight, Lad! You’ve chores to do after all!”

“Feh! I suppose that old bat wants you to be a goodie two shoes, eh? Well, in my book that’s bad.” At the confusion on Sora’s face, Mim practically lights up. “Well, you see, I’m a Witch, the gruesome and grim is my whole deal after all. Now, what to teach you… I don’t suppose you know how to  _ transform _ ?” She asks, flowing from one shape to the next, first a form somehow more hideous still than her usual, followed by everything from cat, dog, jackalope, to a beautiful woman, before finally returning to her original shape with a **BANG** . “Better than Merlin’s mumbly mess of a spell, by far.”

“Wicked!”

“Ha! Now you’re getting it! The spell is simple enough, no words or anything so bothersome…”

* * *

Days quickly turn into weeks, time spent between learning magic from Merlin (“After all, I never specified  _ which _ small bird on that branch was my apprentice.”), days spent learning all manner of spells and tricks from Mim, downtime spent with Arthur and Guenevere, and working at the forge, building a basic level of armor and accessories. Between himself, Riku and Kairi, none of them had thought to bring any of their usual accessories that they wore when Cid brought them out into the slums to fight off some of the smaller Heartless that got through. Which meant no extra materia slots, nothing to help with extra defense, and definitely nothing that could channel magic worth a kup. 

With what Merlin had on hand, or that he could get on his own (There were some surprisingly deep cave systems nearby as it turned out), he could remake a decent amount of their usual gear, but sacrifices were going to have to be made. Bringing the hammer down again, Sora moves the vambrace back into the coals, heated mostly through generous applications of Fire magic. If there was one thing that growing up with Moogles taught you, it was how to make the best out of a bad forge. There might not be any of the more esoteric materials on this world, but that wasn’t a huge loss. Unless one of the other two had found a bunch of materia somewhere, even a limited amount of slots would be fine.

As the metal heats up, Sora takes a moment to breathe. Even as slow as things seemed, he was making progress. The magic Mim knows has a lot of interesting uses, her transformations were on Merlin’s level and sometimes beyond, and her elemental spells flow differently. Merlin’s teaching, and his spells, are both procedural, if this, then that, but Mim’s entire style relies on chaos and movement. If nothing else, the idea of using another spell to stop time on a spellform so you could keep adding to it before using it was a great addition to Sora’s combat style. Why let your opponent know what it was you were casting, or when it would go off?

Returning to the armor, with a small chisel and mallet he begins to chip away at the hot metal, preparing the site where the materia slot would be soldered to the body. Normal steel could withstand the small amounts of Lifestream that would flow through the slot and the gem, but it drastically increased the fragility of the metal, inducing a lot of wear and tear. The material they had all been taught to use instead was _Kuwekup_ , usually called Mythril by people who weren’t Moogles. It alloyed decently with most materials, and could withstand incredible amounts of magical and Lifestream energy. The caves nearby contained just enough that Sora now had enough for a paired set of materia slots in a piece for each of them. He hopes Riku hasn’t grown again. Otherwise this vambrace was going to be way off in size. With a shrug, Sora preps another segment of metal to add to it. Probably best to prepare just in case.

* * *

“ **_CHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGE!_ ** ”

The horse rounds the corner, hooves tearing at the cobblestone. Atop it, clad in armor, lance in hand, the rider leans deep into the run, ready to obliterate his opponent. With a deft sweep of the lance, he hits!- The ground, about ten feet away, knocked head over heels from the force of his opponent’s blow. The foe sits proudly atop his horse, slowly coming to a halt. Not that he’d ever moved, that is, being as he was made of wood and his horse the same. Arthur releases the crank, breathing heavily. Trying to simulate speed with a turn-crank horse needs a lot of force after all. Sora sits in awe of the horse, bewilderment clear to see from any angle. Horses were  _ weird _ . Magic, Magic was just neat. But the idea of a giant animal  _ that you just rode on? _ That was so  _ weird _ . Even back on Destiny Isles, everyone just used boats to get around, and move cargo, and Traverse Town was too dense to have much by way of movement methods other than walking. But here, on this strange world, they rode animals. Huge, muscle-covered animals. And it was  _ awesome _ .

‘Aw man, just wait till I tell Riku and Kairi! Wonder if they’ll believe me… Eh, probably not.’

As Sir Ector goes over to have a shouting match with Kay, Sir Pellinore makes his way over to Arthur, motioning for Sora to join him as well.

“Now, boys, while jousting may be good sport, I am concerned. Of late, bandits have begun to accost travelers to and from London, and I understand you two enjoy your travel to the markets, mhm? With Ector taken up in ensuring Kay’s success at the tournament this winter, it has become apparent that someone should need to prepare you for a fight, should you find yourself entrapped. Wart, I’m told you favor the sword, and Sora, yourself the… dash it all, lad, is that thing a pike, or a lance?” At Sora’s shrug, Pellionore continues, “Either way, between the two of you, you should have no trouble keeping your opponents at bay. Sora, your main job will be to keep opponents away from Wart, and hamstring their efforts to contact him, whereas your task Wart will be to ensure any who get within Sora’s reach regret that choice. To practice this, Sora, I want you to practice with the jousting dummy, try to make your strikes flow around it without making contact, as though it were Wart here you were fighting behind. Wart, you’re with me, we’ll see if we can’t get some proper swordplay into you yet.”

Retreating to the jousting dummy, memories of working on lance skills with Cid come flowing back. Long afternoons spent dashing around Riku and Kairi, forcing back Shadows that got too close, while leaving them both enough room to work with. He and Arthur might not be nearly as in sync as he could get with the other two, but it was definitely a worthy effort to try and get there. Who knew how long it would take for him to find the oth-No. No he couldn’t think about that now. They would find each other. And they would get home safely. Together.

* * *

If learning Magic from Merlin and Mim wasn’t weird enough, teaching magic to a squirrel was certainly getting close. After an afternoon of watching Sora experimenting with transformations, Guenevere had spoken up with a surprising request.

“ _ Erm, Sora? _ ”

“Yea, what’s up?” Asked a bird sitting on the roof of the forge.

“ _ Do you… Do you know if you can teach me how to use that spell? I wish to travel with you and Arthur, to experience more of your world. _ ” A frog hops up next to her, croaking, before speaking up.

“Well, I dunno if I can show you more of this world, but I can definitely try. And hey, I could tell you about where I’m from! It’s a little place called Traverse Town. I grew up there with my friends, Riku and Kairi. The whole town is this great mishmash of plac…” As Sora rambles on, Guenevere nods politely throughout, welcoming the easy flow of any conversation with Sora. It certainly helps make things less disconcerting when the frog you’re talking to turns into a cat.

* * *

Trying to explain away a new member of the group to Ector was certainly an experience, but with her familiarity with the nearby woods and forests, it proved easy enough to explain she lived “Just around the corner, a few miles into the forest, you know, past that mulberry bush that’s always nice this time of year.” At the very least, he stopped making strange noises when a sharply red-haired young girl started showing up almost every day. He’d almost gagged on his dinner the first night. It certainly feels better to have a proper trio around again. How most people lived without two other people to bounce ideas and thoughts off of, Sora never really knew.

Weeks become a month, and then a month becomes two. While they never run into huge amounts of trouble with bandits, there are a few encounters that prove Pellinore right, and make them thankful for the training. With Guenevere picking up the basics of transforming, Merlin also takes the opportunity to teach her the basics of elemental magic, enough to keep her safe should the need arise. They did learn that Arthur with a squirrel on each shoulder, both with eyes glowing with power made one heck of an imposing figure. And that the local bandits had started to worship squirrels. That one had been a weird day. The gift of nuts had been a nice touch though.

* * *

“Sora, aren’t you ready yet?” Arthur calls, leaning on the wall by the door. “The market will be over by the time you’ve found your cloak!”

“Sorry, sorry!” Sora yells, scrambling out into the early afternoon sunshine with a cloak that is not the one he’d gone looking for draped over his shoulders. “I have no idea where it went, but I found this one, so let’s go, and... why are you giving me that look?”

“That’s one of Guenevere’s. That’s a girl’s cloak,” says Arthur.

“It is?” Sora asks, turning and craning his neck to examine it and making no move to take it off. “Well, whatever, let’s go.”

“You can’t just go to the market in a girl’s cloak!” Arthur protests, scrambling to follow the older boy down the path.

“Why not?” Sora asks, with a curious tilt to his head.

“It’s not proper!”

“Why not?”

“Everyone will see you!”

“So?”

“So?!” repeats Arthur. He doesn’t understand why this isn’t getting through. “You’re a boy!”

Sora stops in the path, staring at him. He taps his fist into his open palm and lets out a soft ‘ah’ the same way he does when he finally understands whatever Merlin’s trying to teach the two of them about the influence of fish on the nature of causality or whatever. Then, as if this clarifies anything, he tells Arthur, “I’m not, actually.”

Arthur squints at him. “You’re... you’ve been a girl this entire time? Do you just have a violent dislike of skirts?”

“Nope!” Sora says cheerfully, “Not a girl either! And I like wearing skirts, sometimes.”

“Then... what are you?”

Sora shrugs. “I’m just a person, I guess.”

Arthur nods hesitantly. This makes very little sense to him, but he did spend a week as a squirrel recently, so things not making sense aren’t exactly  _ new. _

Well, Merlin is always encouraging them to ask questions when they don’t understand something. “But, Merlin and I call you  _ he _ all the time, and that’s for boys. Are we doing it wrong?”

Sora smiles and ruffles his hair. “Nah, I don’t mind if you wanna call me she or they or whatever, but he’s the easiest and I don’t mind that either. My friend Riku cares way more about that stuff than me, though – but thank you for asking.”

“Of course, Sora,” says Arthur, smiling back as they start back down the path. “You’re my friend – I may not understand but that doesn’t mean I can’t try and make you happy.”

Sora’s laughter is bright and loud in the quiet forest. “And you’re doing a great job, Arthur.”


	8. Riku: Darklands (pt 1)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Riku and company get into a fight with a Heartless, IN SPACE.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this one's kinda short y'all, I just moved countries and started a new job so it's been a little busy! (At least it's more on-time this week?) -H

**They Must Be Somewhere**   


Riku is all for getting the hell out of what remains of Wonderland as soon as possible, which Tifa can’t judge them for – the poor kid was on the World when it fell, and has been stuck here since. Shiva only knows how they managed to keep fighting, much less keep sane. It’s only some miraculous stroke of luck that she and the others had found Riku at all.

However, the kid’s contempt for the state of maintenance on the gummi ship – which is called the  _ Medium-Sized Bronco, _ because it’s bigger than the  _ Tiny Bronco _ was but much smaller than the  _ Highwind _ , and because Yuffie thinks she’s funny, and because unfortunately Cid agrees – had outweighed their desire to bail out. The four of them have spent what Tifa estimates to be three days surrounded by ruined memories of Wonderland, all broken trees and shattered sign posts, while Riku bosses Cait Sith into running diagnostics on each individual gummi block.

It’s adorable, actually, how Riku feigns grumpiness as they carefully reconnect everything but can’t seem to stop the proud little not-quite-smile from appearing whenever a connection they’d cleaned and rewired slots into place with that weird little gloop-ing sound that gummi blocks make. Like a miniature Cid, only without the cursing or the smoke or the perma-stubble.

“Finished at last?” Tifa asks, smiling, as Riku unfolds themself from where they’d contorted into an impossible-looking position to reach the underside of the  _ Medium-Sized Bronco _ .

“Yep,  _ kupo! _ ” Riku says, with a shy little smile in answer. “Cait Sith and I need to calibrate the emotional drive and then we can go. Is Nanaki back yet?”

“Nah, but he should be soon – it’s almost dinner time. Do you want to leave tonight or wait until we get some sleep?” Tifa asks, trying not to push.  _ She’d  _ like to get some sleep, but if Riku wants off this broken World, well. It’s not like it’s the first time in her life she’s gone without her beauty rest.

Nanaki, lacking in hands and unable to really help with most of the prep work, has spent the past few days ranging carefully out through the area looking for any supplies that might be useful to them. He hasn’t found much, just a couple ethers, but it’s not nothing and they’re all reluctant to let anyone go too far in the Darklands. Just because  _ this bit _ of it was a World recently enough that it retains some of its shape doesn’t mean that around the corner will be the same.

Tifa, meanwhile, has been mostly handing Riku tools, making sure everyone (but especially Riku) is eating okay, and doing her best to fix Riku’s ruined clothes. Their backpack, which is fortunately pretty much intact, had been mostly stuffed with food supplies and what look like synthesis components, what they’d been wearing when Tifa and Nanaki found them was more or less all the outerwear they had. By the fifth time she’d stabbed herself with the needle, she was really missing the days when Aerith and Vincent did all the sewing.

“We can wait.” Riku says, but the set of their mouth suggests they’re not a huge fan of the idea.

Tifa gets to her feet and pats them on the shoulder. “Nah, don’t sweat it. We’ll leave once Nanaki’s back and we’ve eaten. C’mon, I think the patch job I did on your shirt should hold this time.”

* * *

Nanaki stalks through the ruins of a forest, slinking around corners on nearly-silent paws, just like he was taught. Never let the prey know you were coming – it was so much easier to pounce on the unsuspecting. It applied equally well to desert monsters destined to become dinner, and ShinRa goons destined to be unceremoniously dumped into a remote fissure in the rock.

Of course, Nanaki is a large creature covered in bright orange and red fur, and while he blends in fantastically in Cosmo Canyon he rather sticks out in the Darklands, which are primarily composed of black, gray, and slightly lighter black. Besides, by and large the Heartless don’t really track their prey by any of the more traditional senses.

None of this is any reason not to keep his hand, er, paw in, though, and in any case Nanaki is returning from his hunt victorious, two ethers and a hi-potion held delicately in his jaws.

As the gummi ship comes into view, he spies Tifa with her back to him, and he considers for almost an entire thirty seconds sneaking up on her and play-pouncing before he remembers the last time he tried that with an unsuspecting Tifa (back before the Planet was gone, to the tune of muffled giggles from a five-year-old Marlene) and how he’d gotten the full force of her elbow to the side of the head before she realized who it was.

Right, so, that’s out.

Nanaki pads into the clearing, taking care to make at least a little noise to announce his presence, since his mouth is full. Tifa doesn’t notice, but Cait Sith does.

“Ah, welcome back ‘gain! Good huntin’?” the robot cat calls from its position slumped over on its side on the wing of the gummi ship. Looks like Riku forgot that it can only move itself in emergencies on battery power again.

“Nanaki!” Tifa looks up at Cait Sith’s greeting, and gives a cheery wave. “Riku says we’re all good to go right after dinner. Ooooh, is that a hi-potion?”

Finally reaching the ship, Nanaki gently sets his bounty down. “It is indeed. The ship is sound?”

“Yes.” Tifa says, scooping up the items in one arm and nabbing Cait Sith with her other hand.

“Eh, sorta.” says Riku, from the door of the ship where they’ve just appeared. They’re once again dressed in the shirt they’d been wearing when Wonderland fell, and now that it’s cleaned up Nanaki can see that it’s a very fetching shade of yellow and seems to have two or three more zippers than strictly necessary. The swishy trousers from earlier were apparently been more of a lost cause: Tifa’s solution to fixing them had involved raising the hemline to just above Riku’s knee, and making them a good deal less swishy. “It’s as good as it’s going to get with the blocks we have. Hey Tifa, what does the  _ Medium-Sized Bronco _ run on?”

Nanaki pulls a face at the ship’s name. Cait Sith has always thought it was funny, and Tifa gave up arguing with Yuffie when Cid stopped being able to hold back his laughter, but he’s always thought it was – somehow – even less dignified a name than that of the airship it was named for.

“Confidence.” Tifa says, and hands Cait Sith up to Riku before pulling herself into the ship. “C’mon, you can calibrate the drive after dinner, I’m hungry.”

Nanaki hops in once the two humans have cleared out of the entrance enough for him to have a landing space. “So, cub, is ‘as good as it’s going to get’ the same as space-worthy?”

Riku considers their answer for a worryingly long moment. “Well, we’re probably not going to die, anyway.”

* * *

“We’re totally going to die,” Riku says, staring at the  _ kup _ -ing enormous Heartless ship that only a  _ very  _ quick barrel roll had saved them from slamming directly into when it loomed up out of nowhere. When they said they wanted to fly off of the remains of Wonderland, it had been because they wanted nothing more than to feel like they were finally  _ doing  _ something. They hadn’t thought that something would be picking a fight with a Heartless the size of a building.

“We’re not gonna die, just keep flying so I can shoot it!” Tifa commands from her position in the co-pilot’s chair, which in the  _ Medium-Sized Bronco _ is the one with the easiest access to the weapons panel on the command pad.

“There’s like, two guns on this thing, and the shield is terrible!” Riku snaps, pulling them into another tight roll as the huge Heartless unfurls honest-to-goodness laser tentacles and starts shooting at them from a frankly excessive number of guns.

“Better not get hit then!”

* * *

Tifa’s pretty good as a gunner, with a sense for when to give the ship’s weapons time to cool off (which she’s always claimed has come from the sheer amount of time she’s spent listening to Barrett complain about his arm overheating over the years) and when to keep firing until they stall at an exposed weakness (which Nanaki is pretty sure is just down to who Tifa is as a person). Between that at Riku’s piloting, which has the marks of Cid’s tutoring all over it, they’re not doing too badly, all things considered.

That’s not, Nanaki considers as he’s once again flung into the air of the cockpit as Riku flips the ship again to avoid a blow from one of the Heartless’s lasers, to say that they’re doing  _ well _ , either. Also, a thousand curses upon Cid for not thinking to install a safety harness suitable for his noble form, since the chairs were human-shaped and did him absolutely no good.

The Heartless, a massive ship shaped vaguely like an octopus, is mostly dark blue, with glowing yellow and red swirls arranged in patterns on its surface. It’s vulnerable, for a given value of the word, at its joints, which are unfortunately typically only revealed when it’s swinging its laser tentacles at them.

Tifa fires at the joints as Riku rights the ship. The shots hit, and the Heartless trashes angrily.

“Is this even doing anything?” Riku demands, swinging them around to get Tifa a better angle in the face of the Heartless’s eratic movements.

“Aye!” Cait Sith reports from where it’s strapped into the third chair in the cockpit, which has the information from the scan and navigation gummis. The small robot cat is, comically, not actually touching the seat, since the straps holding securely it to the backrest are designed for someone roughly human-sized and shaped. “We’re wearin’ it down, so!”

Tifa hits it with another burst of fire. The patterns on the Heartless swirl and glow. Nanaki has a bad feeling about this, which is only confirmed when the thing flips over, opens a truly alarming beak, and half a dozen smaller Heartless ships fly out.

“Lifestream hang it,” he says glumly, although it’s drowned out by Tifa’s much more inventive cursing, and braces himself as Riku yelps and begins evasive maneuvers.   


* * *

They’ve never had to fly like this before.

The shields can probably take just about one more hit, and then the ship itself is going to start taking damage, which – depending on what breaks – could absolutely kill them. Tifa’s good, but she’s not Sora, and every time she misses it’s another opportunity they have to find them, another laser tentacle they have to dodge.

They wish Kairi were here, speeding through obstacles with reckless grace. They wish Sora were here, making trick shots as Riku calls out locations from their position on radar. They  _ can  _ pilot, of course, they spent several years in Cid’s care, after all, but it’s not their favorite. Riku prefers the analytical bits, making sure everything’s stable and applying emergency patches as needed.

Cait Sith is doing an admirable job of that, though, Riku thinks as they pull the  _ Medium-Sized Bronco _ up out of the way of an incoming Heartless tiny ship. Some debris glances off off a wing, and they wince. There go the shields.

“Ah, we’ve almost got it!” the robot cat calls from its position in front of the screens where Riku would so much rather be. “One more burst and the great wee beastie’ll be toast!”

Riku’s eyes dart frantically around the scene they can make out through their windscreen. The giant Heartless is glowing, patterns pulsing in a way that they are  _ definitely  _ not a fan of, clearly gearing up for the kind of hit that the gummi ship definitely cannot handle.

They wish Kairi were here to dodge recklessly close to the thrashing laser tentacles so that Sora could have a clear shot he would surely make. They wish they even knew that their friends were safe.

But they’ll never know unless they make it out of this particular mess, and that’s going to take the kind of flying that makes Kairi go all fierce and concentrated and Sora light up with breathless laughter and Riku’s a decent pilot but they’re not in it for the love of flight the way they sometimes think their friends are, the way Cid definitely is.

Well, it’s a risky move and maybe-death or playing it safe and facing almost-certain-death from whatever the Heartless is about to unleash, and Riku knows which of those odds they like better.

“Don’t miss!” they tell Tifa, and then they flip the ship sideways and yank it closer to the Heartless, weaving between laser tentacles and debris.

Tifa doesn’t.

The Heartless explodes into a thousand harmless pieces and glimmering light, several intact gummi blocks left floating just about where Tifa’s shot hit.

For a long moment, they all just sit there and breathe. Then Tifa whoops delightedly and reaches over to ruffle Riku’s hair affectionately. “We did it! Nice flying, Riku!”

“... thanks.” Riku manages to reply, still staring at the gently-floating gummi blocks just ahead. “Hey, next time we go flying around Dark space, let’s bring more guns.”

“I think we can manage that.” Nanaki says, from where he’s wedged himself between Tifa’s chair and the base of a control panel, the most stable place in the cockpit gummi for him. “Let’s go get whatever that thing dropped, and then land somewhere to fix the shields.”

Cait Sith makes a humming sound which Riku realizes, slightly disturbed, is probably its cooling fans working harder as it thinks. “There’s a World what fell recently nay too far ahead, I’ll plot oor path.”

Shortly after, a broken-down castle, with pieces crumbling away and floating off into space every so often, looms into view.


	9. Kairi: Olympus Coliseum (pt 3)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Kairi and Cloud fight in a tournament, and Hades realizes he miscalculated.

**YOU GO, GIRL**

“HELLLLLOOOOOOOOOOOO MORTALS, AND WELCOME TO THE PEGASUS CUP!” A chorus of voices rings out from everywhere. “WE ARE THE MUSES, AND WE ARE  _ THRILLED  _ TO BE YOUR ANNOUNCERS THIS FINE SUNNY DAY!”

Cloud, waiting in the darkened entryway to the coliseum, takes a deep breath and straightens his shoulders. The Buster sword is a comforting weight on his back, and he tries his best to project who he was back when he thought he was Zack – they’re going to need that guy’s stage presence if they want to get through this.

“You ready, kid?” he asks.

Kairi shifts her weight back and forth on her heel, nervous. “ _ Kupo...  _ I have no idea. What if we don’t win, and Vincent and your... your friend are stuck forever? What if  _ we’re  _ stuck forever,  _ kupo _ , and I never- never find Riku and Sora and-?”

He meets her eyes, sees the worry shining there. Sighing, he crouches down to her level.

“Then we’ll find another way out. Vincent’s good at that kind of thing.” Cloud tucks a loose strand of hair, escaped from Kairi’s ponytail, behind her ear, and adjusts the collar of Vincent’s cloak to better cover her face. “But don’t worry about that. Between us we’ve got more than a decade of combat experience, two big swords, and enough magic to level this arena if we need to, ok?”

Kairi frowns suspiciously. “I’ve got less than a month of  _ any _ experience, and one single, un-leveled Summon materia.”

Cloud smirks at her and nods. “And now’s your opportunity to level it, yeah?”

This is apparently the right combination of things to say, since Kairi returns his smirk with her  _ much _ sunnier grin.

“Okay,  _ kupo! _ ”

“IN THE LEFT CORNER, COMING ALL THE WAY FROM – oh there’s no way that’s right,  _ everyone’s _ from  _ a planet _ – ANYWAY, NEW TO THE COLISEUM, PLEASE GIVE IT UP FOR TEAM STRIIIIIIIIFFFFFFFFFFFEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!”

Cloud and Kairi walk out into the arena to a decent amount of applause and scattered cheers. The stand are maybe a third full, from what Cloud can see. Phil the satyr is just left of center in the front row, holding a clipboard and frowning. Meg, a few seats behind him, gives the two of them an ironic little two-fingered salute when she sees him looking. She seems to be sharing a tub of popcorn with the horse sitting next to her.

“IN THE RIGHT CORNER, COMING ALL THE WAY FROM – HONESTLY NO ONE’S SURE! IIIIIIIIIIIIT’S A BUNCH OF HEARTLESS! ONE OF THE TEAMS LORD HADES HAS SO KINDLY SPONSORED FOR TODAY’S ENTERTAINMENT!”

“Remember the plan?” Cloud asks Kairi under his breath, and sees her nod out of the corner of his eye before she steps back into his shadow.

“REMEMBER!” boom the muses as a small crowd of Soldiers and a Nocturn make their way to the arena, “THE RULES ARE SIMPLE! YOU CAN’T LEAVE THE ARENA, AND THE LAST TEAM WITH MEMBERS STILL STANDING ADVANCES TO THE NEXT ROUND! OTHER THAN THAT – ANYTHING GOES!”

As the muses count down, Cloud draws the Buster sword and prepares his stance. The Soldiers rattle their helmets threateningly, but here in the light of day – out of the dark of the Underworld – they just seem a little silly. Still dangerous but... not really all that dire.

“BEGIN!”

* * *

From the ethereal announcers booth, five figures dressed in white watch as the taller human on Team Strife bursts forward and in a series of impossibly smooth motions cuts down all the Soldiers with his enormous sword. The Nocturn gets hit with a glancing blow somewhere in this process, but stays upright, if wobbly. It starts to glow, gearing up for a magical attack, when the man kicks it hard enough to fling it across the arena, and then casts a low-level Fire spell almost as an after-thought. The Nocturn vanishes.

It’s over less than five seconds. The kid with him didn’t even  _ try  _ doing anything. It’s probably the most brutally efficient take-down the Coliseum has seen in an age – certainly long before Hercules’ time. The crowd is dead silent as they process that the exciting battle they were expecting has, in fact, just happened and they pretty much missed it.

Four of the muses look horrified. The last, shorter and plumper than the rest, is clearly  _ delighted. _

“Is... is that allowed?” Melpomene asks hesitantly, and Clio frantically sifts through her scrolls for an answer before shrugging helplessly.

“Who cares?” demands Thalia, beaming. “Look at that crowd! No one expected anything like it!”

Terpsichore edges daintily away from the muse of comedy’s enthusiasm and leans forward to peer down at the arena. “He’s got moves, anyway. Even if he doesn’t, uh, apply them in a way that could be defined as ‘entertaining’.”

Calliope scowls.

“Yeah, you know what he doesn’t have? Respect for a proper heroic narrative arc or a sense of showmanship.” she mutters, before waving her hand and announcing:

“TEAM STRIFE MOVES ONTO THE NEXT ROUND!”

* * *

Before the tournament started, Phil had addressed the crowd of non-Heartless fighters, which in the end was her, Cloud, and a couple of probably-teenagers who looked like they’d just come off their shift at a farm and were hoping for grander things in life.

The tournament, Phil had stressed, was for entertaining the general population. It was for glory, for bragging rights, an opportunity for the kind of fame most people only dreamed of. The goal was not to win the fight – it was to win the crowd.

Cloud had rolled his eyes throughout this entire speech and generally not even bothered pretending he was listening.

“The point,” Cloud told Kairi once Phil’s speech was over and the teens were nervously getting ready, “is not to be some great hero. The point is to win as quickly as possible so we can move on. But in the meantime...”

Cloud destroys the competition in the first round. Kairi doesn’t do anything – she doesn’t even have time to try. He doesn’t make a show out of it at all, just takes down the Heartless facing them as quickly as possible and then sheathes the Buster sword like nothing happened.

The crowd is quiet as the muses announce the next round, watching carefully so that they don’t miss anything this time.

It’s too bad, Cloud thinks, that he really has no intention of giving them any kind of show.

The blond claps a hand on Kairi’s shoulder and gently shoves her forward. “Go on.”

In the meantime, may as well get some training in.

* * *

She’d been nervous for the first two rounds. But six rounds in and it’s kind of exhilarating – like running the rooftops of Traverse Town.

Kairi rolls out of the way of a charging Big Belly and springs up, slamming her keyblade into its back and grinning as she watches it collapse into dark mist, glittering heart bumping gently over her knuckles where her fingers are wrapped around Tempest Breaker before drifting off into the sky.

Some part of her feels like she could do this all day, but the cohorts of Heartless  _ are  _ getting tougher and Kairi could use a breather, honestly. She scoops up the item the Big Belly dropped as it disappeared and takes stock of her options.

Cloud’s been sitting in the corner of the arena since his burst of action in the first round. Well, actually he’s leaning against a pillar looking kind of brooding, but Kairi’s figured out in the past few weeks wandering the Underworld with him that this is just Cloud’s default comfortable position. She knows he’s keeping an eye on her, and if she needs him he’ll jump in.

Instead, as the muses announce the next round and a bunch of different armor pieces appear and start floating around independently, Kairi raises her keyblade and closes her eyes and lets the materia in it drain her magic as she calls on a Summon. She still doesn’t know what it is that Yuffie gave her, but she guesses she’s about to find out.

There’s a flare of light and a hesitant  _ “Wark?” _

Kairi watches in disbelief as a Moogle riding a strange yellow bird appears. The bird looks around, confused. The Moogle just looks curious, and then amused once it spots her.

“ _ You’ll catch flies like that, kid!”  _ it says in Mooglish, and Kairi snaps her mouth closed.

Before she can demand what it’s name is, if it’s real or not, does it know the other Moogles in Traverse, are they okay, is everyone okay- before any of that can happen, the Moogle focuses on the Heartless in front of them and exclaims, “ _ What a strange new enemy! Charge, brave steed, time to get a moog on!” _

The pair charge the Heartless, scattering armor pieces before swinging around for another pass. The Moogle shouts archaic Mooglish insults at the Heartless as the bird tramples them underfoot.

Kairi stares for another few seconds, before mentally shrugging and deciding to take the breather this offers for what it is. She trudges over to where Cloud is looking suspiciously bright-eyed, his lips pressed firmly together. He’s clearly trying not to laugh.

“Can you hold these?” She asks, offering the items she’s collected over the last few rounds. “These stupid shorts don’t have big enough pockets.”

Cloud looks from the items in her hands – mostly interesting looking materials and a handful of munny, but there’s a practically-intact necklace in there that Kairi’s eager to try fixing – to her face, to the chaos behind her, and completely loses it.

The blond is doubled over laughing, and Kairi’s not really sure what about the situation is so funny, but she can somehow feel the time ticking down to when the Summon will be dismissed. He hasn’t said he couldn’t or wouldn’t hold her things, so she stuffs them in Cloud’s hip pocket while he’s busy leaning on the pillar trying to catch his breath and heads back over to the action.

The Moogle gives Kairi a little salute, which she returns with a smile just before it and its bird friend vanish. She’s not that worried.

Her tiny pockets have just enough space for an ether. She can call it back again soon.

* * *

Today is the best day Meg’s had in a long time.

She’d started out a little nervous, sending a kid into the ring – it had been fine when Herc did it, mostly, and the last few years had been pretty safe, but Hades had been stirring things up lately and currently Thebes had no resident demi-god to take care of the things Hades tended to stir up. No place for a child.

But then Cloud had handily proved that he was perfectly capable of dominating this tournament by  _ himself _ , and then he’d smugly sat back and just... not done that.

And Kairi had stepped up to the plate instead, and it’s  _ fantastic. _ Meg’s having so much fun. She wants the expression Phil had made when the kid summoned a weird marshmallow critter and an oversized chicken immortalized on an urn so she could send it to Herc with her next letter.

_ Dear Wonder Boy, things are going great in Thebes, no worries! Hades has some kind of evil plan, probably, but there’s this tiny child who seems to be foiling it more or less single-handedly. You’re missing out. Have fun saving the universe, or whatever. _

A large Heartless decides that its companions have the kid handled and runs at Cloud instead, who’s moved on from slouching against a pillar to practically laying down with his hands tucked carelessly behind his head. Kairi sticks a foot out and trips it, then whirls around and smashes her huge, purple sword onto its head, twice, before kicking it and turning back to the two she had been fighting earlier.

Meg grins and eats some more popcorn from the part of the tub that doesn’t have pegasus-slobber on it yet.

This is the best thing ever.

* * *

This is the worst thing ever.

Well, no, Hades is exaggerating. He’s been around a long time, okay, there have definitely been worse things. This one is still a major bummer.

Seriously, who would have figured the scrawny little kid had it in them? He’d been so sure she’d drag the bigger guy (who, actually, was also pretty short, although Hades himself is probably not the best judge of these things since the mortals he most frequently interacts with, unfortunately, do include that muscle-bound freak of nature, Hercules) down and have been knocked out by now.

Instead, they’ve made it to the last round, and the blond guy hasn’t so much as lifted a finger other than to pass the kid a potion which she’d chugged in between rolling out of the way of Thunder magic attacks. What’s worse is the crowd, once they got over their initial shock,  _ likes  _ the kid. They’re cheering for her, shouting encouragements when she gets hit and screaming with approval when she dispatches yet another group of Heartless. Damn, it’s a good thing those things are so plentiful, he wasn’t expecting to go through this many in the tournament before he experimented with turning them loose on Thebes and maybe even Olympus.

Hades looks at the listings. Cerberus is slated to be the final round. Normally, Hades would be all for watching his dog crush these whackos into the dust and drip acidic saliva onto their remains before receiving his reward (three elephant femurs, the only bones really big enough for any of the heads to get a proper grip on, and a belly rub – they have a system, a-thank-you-very-much).

But as much fun as that would be, his poor dog deserves better, and Hades does want this win. He sighs, sets the list he was reading from on fire, and heads off to yell at the pro-lamers of heros. There’s a last minute substitution that needs to be made.

He’s gotta have a hydra or  _ something _ laying around the Underworld, right?

* * *

“Uh, Cloud?” Kairi asks, looking up and up and  _ up _ at their next opponent, eyes huge. “I thought you said Cerberus was um, a big dog with three heads?”

Cloud grunts in the affirmative and hauls himself to his feet.

“This is not a big dog with three heads, Cloud.” Kairi says, in case he’s misunderstood her point.

“Nah.” Cloud agrees, wandering up casually to stand next to her. “That’s a great big ice monster.”

“ _ Kupo.”  _ Kairi mutters under her, breath, and hefts Tempest Breaker a little higher. “I might need some help with this one.”

Cloud smiles at her and mirrors her stance with the Buster. “No problem, kid.”

The muses announce the final round – Team Strife versus the Ice Titan – and the gong rings out.

* * *

It’s rough going, for a little while there, but Cloud’s keeping an eye on Kairi and she’s doing a great job, honestly. She has a knack for getting out of the way of a blast of ice just before it’s sent her way, and she’s small enough that he can fling her up on the Titan’s shoulders so she can attack its face.

The strategy works fairly well for a while, but although he’s pretty sure they’re wearing the thing down, the two of them are also getting worn down. It’s time to end this, before someone ends up with frostbite anywhere sensitive.

“You got any magic left, kid?” Cloud asks, conversationally, pretending not to notice how Kairi’s lips are starting to go a little blue. She nods, and he adjusts his grip on the Buster sword. “Why don’t you get your friend to knock it over and we can both go at its head?”

Kairi shoots him a slightly suspicious look, before raising her keyblade and casting.

Choco-Mog appears and Cloud finds himself smiling at the familiar Summon without meaning to. As much as he hasn’t missed the constant comparisons, he’s missed chocobos, and it’s weirdly comforting to know that at least one is still around, kind of.

“ _ Kupo! Kupo-kupo, kupo?”  _ Kairi says, gesturing at the Titan, and one day Cloud is going to get a real story about how she learned Mooglish that isn’t some weird nonsense about not wanting Cid to know about a surprise party (although he also, if he’s honest, wants to know about this surprise party. Cid hates parties and he hates surprises, Cloud can’t imagine that went anything other than poorly).

“ _ Kup-kupo!”  _ The Moogle replies, and then the chocobo is running at the Titan’s knees. A cartoonish cloud of dust and ice errupts as they collide. The Titan stumbles, and falls far enough that its face is in view.

Kairi wastes no time slamming into it with as much force as she can put behind her keyblade, and Cloud gives himself a bare moment to be proud of how her form’s improved before joining in beating on the head of what is basically a living glacier.

* * *

It takes a number of good whacks to finish off the Ice Titan, but when it finally gives a last groan and stops moving Kairi finds herself starting in for another blow without really thinking about it.

“TEAM STRIFE WINS!” declare the muses, and from the elaborately-decorated section of the stands where Hades has been watching (it’s all done up in purple and skulls, she’s not sure who else could possibly be sitting there) an angry column of flame briefly rises before winking out.

Kairi takes a second to lean on Tempest Breaker and catch her breath, gazing up at the Titan’s massive body. It’s in full sunlight, and not melting at all. She’s dripping with sweat, which is gross, but provides an interesting data point as a drop lands next to the Titan and freezes instead of soaking into the ground.

Even defeated, the living ice clearly has magical properties – what kind of interesting stuff could she make out of that? She dismisses her keyblade in favor of scrambling up the giant, exposed ribs of the hulking creature to investigate further.

“Kid, what are you even doing?” a voice demands, and she looks down to see Phil standing in what little of the arena remains un-destroyed, impatiently tapping one hoof. “You won, now you get your laurels and yadda yadda, whatever. The thing’s beat.”

Kairi tugs at the piece of ice in her hand again, and is pleased when this time the piece – a part of a rib about the length of her forearm – snaps off. She waves it at Phil, and calls back, “I’m going to make the coolest ice-defense charm with this,  _ kupo!” _

Phil squints up at her, apparently trying to decide if she’s serious or not, before throwing up his hands and walking away, telling Cloud as he goes that “this one’s not my problem, Spikey-boy, that’s a junior hero  _ you  _ get to deal with.”

Cloud just gives her a flat look. “That one you have to carry yourself. It won’t fit in my pockets with everything else you shoved in there.”

* * *

Hades is, despite everything else about him, true to his word. He grumbles about it the whole time he takes them back down into the Underworld, Kairi hanging back and keeping Cloud between them as a buffer the entire time.

Cloud has no problems with being such a buffer, and moves to step in front of the kid more fully when Hades snaps his fingers and Vincent and Zack are suddenly just  _ there _ when they were not at all in evidence a moment before. A staircase rises up between the gates, seemingly endless but for the tiny speck of light at the top that promises a way out.

“Aaaaaaaall righty!” Hades declares, clapping his hands together and smiling insincerely. “You losers, well, didn’t lose so here’s your promised chance. All you gotta do is walk to the top of the stairs, right on outta here. Your friends will follow behind you.”

Cloud squints at him suspiciously, and then looks over at the two ghosts. Vincent shrugs. Zack looks confused, but honestly that’s a pretty normal expression for Zack.

“... what’s the catch.” Cloud doesn’t-ask, and he  _ really  _ doesn’t like the way Hades grins in response.

“They’ll be behind you – but you can’t look until you’re out of the Underworld. Like I said, standard Orpheus deal. You walk, they follow, no one looks back, and no problems, yeah?”

Kairi is a tiny, warm presence at the small of Cloud’s back. He takes a deep breath, and lets go of the anger he can feel building within him at the unfairness of it. They played Hades’ stupid game, only to be met with more tests. It’s not fair, but it’s what they’ve got to work with, and he needs to get the kid out of here. She’s already shivering again.

He gives Hades one last, poisonous glare, and he and Kairi start walking.

It’s fine at first. Cloud has his irritation to keep him company, and Kairi seems content to walk in silence next to him. But gradually the silence builds, and Cloud realizes he can only hear two steps of footsteps.

That’s fine, that makes sense. Vincent and Zack aren’t physical, they don’t make footsteps.

It’s still too quiet.

They’re maybe halfway up the towering staircase, and Cloud can feel suspicion and discomfort itching at the back of his neck. Dammit, he has enough trouble trusting what he  _ can _ see some days, given how screwed up his memory is, but he’s spent enough time travelling around with Vincent that he feels like he should be able to sense the man’s presence, and a silent Zack is downright unnatural, and-

A small hand grasps his, and he looks down to see Kairi smiling back up at him.

“They’re here,” she says, “I can feel them. How their hearts are connected to yours.”

Kairi touches her own heart as she says it, and despite how silly it sounds... Cloud finds himself believing her.

They walk into the sunlight of Thebes, Cloud’s hand still tucked into Kairi’s as she leads him confidently forward.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had too many flashbacks to Phil yelling at me to GET ON THE HYDRA'S BACK to actually like, use the Hydra in this fic. Hope you all enjoyed it anyway. -H


	10. Sora: Camelot (pt 3)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Sora goes for a ride, and Cid worries.

**Of All the Idiotic-**

After almost three months of training, the date that Merlin and Mim had set finally comes around. Returning to the burnt out forest near Mim’s cottage, an Owl lands on a branch with a good view of two boys, and two older mages. A Squirrel soon joins the Owl, bounding through the trees until it settles into the branch, close enough to be distinctly strange to anyone paying attention (although surely, anyone paying attention might take notice at an owl flying around in broad daylight in the first place). 

“Right then, the day’s finally here, ohohoooo, Merlin you sad sack of stuffing, I’ve got you this time. I’ll bet you trained your apprentice up goooood and proper, no buts about it. Just means you’re going to lose this one, eh?”

“Madam, we shall see indeed. May I introduce my apprentice: a spritely young lad I picked up, oh, three, four months ago?” He waves vaguely at the two boys. “Somewhere near there, never can remember blasted dates very well. And your boy is ready, hm?”

“Why Merlin, I tell you, I’ve taught the most maniacally diabolical little devil I ever did see. He managed to steal your cute little teleporting spell from right under your nose! Hah! Scared the dickens out of me the first time he showed up behind me, but what’s a witch to do?”

“I-I say lad, that’s a _very_ nasty thing to do, how could you boy?” The wink that Sora is getting from Merlin proved that he thought nothing of the sort, having taught him the thing himself. The only part he’d been holding out on was using it for much longer ranges. They both know that the moment Sora knew he’d try and get home, even if he didn’t have enough knowledge of the spell or enough power to make it all the way yet, and Merlin isn’t willing to court that particular disaster. “Now then, backs together, there you go, and a one-two-three-four-”

Each number a step. Each one a step further from Arthur. Then they reach ten. Turning to face each other, drawing weapons. Arthur’s sword at the ready, Sora’s lance a comfortable heft in his hand. Merlin gives a nod. They clash.

* * *

In Mim’s opinion, this Wizard Duel is turning out extraordinarily boringly. Neither of the two had even used any magic yet, just a lengthy _mundane_ duel at this point. Ah, here’s something. Sora is preparing something just the way she’d taught him, building the spell up in a time freeze to allow for more power to go together… Wait why is he aiming that _next_ to the boy, not _at_ \- The moment the bolt of fire hit the ground, she realizes. Merlin has a game here. Of course he does, the blasted old bucket of bolts.

“Now, Merlin, you wouldn’t happen to have… _Not_ trained your apprentice in magic?” She asks, raising on suspicious eyebrow pointedly.

“Now, my dear Madam, whatever gives you that idea? The lad’s just used magic, just there!” There’s a _twinkle_ in his twice-triffling little eye, _oh_ , she is going to do something extremely unpleasant. To be so slighted! Her! The greatest witch of their time!

“You-! I-! OOOOooooh I see your game here, you lilly livered lumpkin! You thrice thumped tuna! You couldn’t even be bothered to train yours, just got _me_ to train him for you! What kind of a wizard even are you!”

“MADAM I NEVER! I assure you, my apprentice is in that fight, same as yours!”

Of _course_ his apprentice is in this fight. Ooooooooh, Mim sees his game now, and sees that she’s been played, and she is _not_ pleased, to say the least. 

“Don’t you ‘I NEVER’ me, you bumbling bat! You’ve gone and trained the _same one,_ haven’t you! I’ll have your head I will! You’ll never hear the end of it! I’ll- I’ll!”

“OH FOR THE LOVE OF JEHOSAPHAT! BLOW ME TO BERMUDA WHY DON’T YO-Oh, oh bother.” Merlin’s shouting quickly dies out, as multicolor sparks begin to rumble and spew from beneath his robes. He looks up, and sees Arthur and Sora - who have stopped their duel to stare slack-jawed at the heated argument, and his shouting starts up again in haste. “LADS! LADS CALL IT OFF! BLAST IT ALL! SORA, I’LL SEE YOU SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo-” 

The rumbling reaches a crescendo, as a wall of magical fire blasts forth, rocketing Merlin’s figure into the sky, finally disappearing with a twinkle. 

Mim scowls up at the hole Merlin’s flight tore through a cloud, and mutters under her breath, “coward.”

* * *

Sora blinks after the shining light. Wait, the spellform’s that easy? _That_ ’s all he needs to change? Well, _ha_ ! Easy enough, surely.

“Mim, you’ve been an awful teacher, and I mean it! I’d hate to ever see you again!” Sora says, hurriedly patting down his pockets to make sure he’s still got the _just in case_ ethers Merlin had foisted on him before the match. “Arthur, I’ll come back sometime! You’d better be stronger by then! Take me to Traverse Town! HAHAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa-” 

Merlin’s sparks and subsequent take off had been unintentional, and distinctly combustible. The smoke on the ground is just starting to clear when Sora is surrounded by a violent swirl of air, tugging in all directions at his clothes and hair before abruptly and forcefully changing directions to _up._ There is a faint cracking noise, and he launches upwards, at an angle to escape the World’s pull just the way Cid taught them all to fly a gummi ship. 

Arthur waves him off, laughing with joy at the sight of his friend flying away with immense speed. Mim sputters and spews before realizing just what her apprentice had said about her.

“Why that sneaky little! He cheated! And so well! HA! YOU HEAR THAT MERLIN? I WIN! I WIN I WIN I WIN!”

* * *

Meanwhile, on the treebranch, Guenevere watches Arthur back away slowly from where Mim is jumping up and down in triumph. 

“Archimedes, wherever did they go?” she asks the Owl.

“To Bermuda, and this Traverse Town, I suppose. Some far off island, yet to be discovered, and somewhere off amongst the stars.” 

* * *

“Aw _fooey_! We’ll never find the king at this rate!” A duck grumbles, wandering the backstreets of Traverse Town, arms crossed and brow furrowed in clear irritation. The dog walking next to him pats him on the shoulder reassuringly.

“Say Donald, why don’t we try asking that Cid feller if he’s got any leads? He sure seemed nice enough before..” A flicker in the sky catches the dog’s attention, bright, brighter than any star. And given that the last few of those he’s seen flickering that way had been Worlds falling, he’s inclined to pay attention to it. Peering out into space, he watches as the light seems to get brighter still. Curious.

“What, that big palooka? Come on Goofy, you really think t- _Goofy_ , what are you staring a-WAK!” Goofy shoves Donald out of the way, arms ready and waiting to catch whatever it is that’s coming in _much faster than anything should be and-_

A second later, the duck and dog come to their senses, stars spinning around their heads. All Donald can feel is Goofy’s big _honking_ weight on him, and all Goofy can see is some sort of a spear? Been awhile since he’d seen one of those, Maxie was one of the only guards who used one regularly. Then there’s the weight on top of him, which come to think of it, hadn’t that falling thing yelled somethi-Oh gawrsh, better check on them. 

Rolling over, and carefully extracting himself from the dog (and duck and falling-person) pile, Goofy gets a better look at the spear (it’s kind of long - does that make it a lance…? Eh, Maxie would know, he’ll ask the next time he’s home), and at the person who had fallen in on them. Spikey brown hair, piercingly blue eyes, and a deep red romper, covered with dust. A coat that’s definitely reinforced in a couple of key places, and a pair of armored gloves. Nothing looks to be broken or bleeding, so Goofy reaches out to lend them a hand up.

“Say feller, are you okay? Y’took a nasty fall. How high up were ya anyways?”

“I’m fine, I think. Though, that second one depends on where we are. This is Traverse, r-” The person looks up, sees their surroundings for just a second, and leaps into the air with a whoop and a holler. “IT WORKED! YESSSSSS! Wait till I tell Cid! I flew! I really flew! Hahah! Finally, home. Oh, shoot, sorry, that was kinda rude. My name’s Sora, what’s yours?”

Donald finally picks himself up, shaking off the dust that had accumulated on his shirt. “ _Raggaflagga-couldalandedonuslighte-_ ” Goofy’s sharp poke in the side gets his attention again. He snaps upright and says, “Donald Duck!”

“Name’s Goofy!” The ground rumbles lightly, just enough that the three pause a moment. “Say, you mentioned that this was your home? That uh, that there rumblin supposed to happen?” Another rumble.

“Not usually, not unless- Aw _Kupo_.” The square is empty aside from the three of them. That doesn’t happen, not unless the alarms have already gone off: this is one of the main squares, and it’s usually got at least a few people knocking around at all hours. A glance to the huge doors connecting Districts 1 and 3, and the enormous barrier across them confirms it. “You guys didn’t happen to hear the bell going off, did you?” 

At their nods, Sora curses in Mooglish again. “That’s the alarm. We’re about to have some company. Hope you two can keep up in a fight.”

“I’m the King’s Court Magician, just try me! And the big dolt here is Captain of the Guard!” Donald says, indignant. 

The distinctive warble of Heartless sliding into the light of the square, as another rumble sounds in the distance drags their eyes up. Hands close around weapons, spells begin to form. The Heartless are back in Traverse Town.

* * *

The Heartless have always had a rhythm to them, a common twitch, all of them in time to some long hidden pattern. If you fight enough of them in the same place, you begin to learn some of that pattern, enough to realize when hits are coming, when there are still more hiding, and most importantly: when more are coming. 

Cid has been in Traverse Town for almost ten years now, and fighting the Heartless almost since day one, and he knows in his bones: an attack is going to happen today. 

Why today, who could tell, but today is the day, and it’s going to be big. The tight look on Yuffie’s usually joyful face just serves as more confirmation. Hefting weapons, checking materia slots, they head out to District 2. Best get going before the party starts.

* * *

Fighting with Donald and Goofy is surprisingly effective. While normally he’d be taking up the role that Donald is fulfilling, hitting enemies while Kairi and Riku drew attention, he’s filling Kairi’s boots for this fight. It’s a lot easier than he thought it would be, with Goofy’s shield blocking more hits than one would expect, given its relatively small size. 

Ducking under Goofy’s arm, he raises his lance, stabbing through a Shadow to fire off a Blizzard spell at the Large Body behind it. The All materia in the handle of his lance tugs at his magic, lashing out at every Heartless he could see with the same magic. Looks like the linkages are holding up - good. It wasn’t as effective when used with Magic, but normal magic works similarly enough to Materia anyways that the gem doesn’t seem to care much. 

Feeling the Lifestream tug of Materia brings his thoughts to the flowers in the workshop, the ones he’s usually the only one who remembers to water. With all three of them gone for so long, would they still be well taken care of? Sora dodges away from a Shadow’s swipe at his legs and shakes away the distracting thought. He’ll be able to check for himself once this over.

* * *

Fighting with Yuffie always brings back memories. Even though it’s been years since they wound up here, and longer still since they’d first met and fought together, it still brings him back to trudging all over every single damned inch of the Planet. They’re often on different patrol shifts, so these days they don’t have each other’s backs as literally as they did in the old days.

In hindsight, the Heartless are kind of preferable to fight compared to the crap they used to have to deal with. The sludge they leave behind goes away after a short while, so even if you splatter one onto the guy next to you, no big loss, just a few hours wait for those clothes to be reasonable again. The crap that those giant-ass Malboros up near Gaea’s Cliff had spat at everything near them stunk for _days_ if you couldn’t find a hot wash within about five minutes. 

With this in mind, Cid feels absolutely no guilt about how Yuffie is completely covered in weird, clingy mist when he spears a Soldier mid-air as it tries to jump down on the ninja. She squeals indignantly anyway.

Seems like the waves here are winding down though. Just means the head honcho is coming up.

* * *

He has to admit, the giant floating armor is new. Usually these Heartless groups are just led by a bigger group of large bodies. With four floating limbs flying around, and a giant torso that loves to try and squash you, this thing has some serious potential to hurt somebody. 

Goofy is covering Donald while the duck built up a spell, leaving Sora to leap around the environment, keeping the Head’s attention. Wait, is that a-

* * *

The giant shitty armor is new. Usually it was just a few small fry when the last wave came. Or, well, a lot of small fry, but this is definitely new. Aw double crap, possible-civilians - no, wait, is that the duck and dog that walked through earlier? At least they look like they can handle themselves. 

Yuffie, it seems, doesn’t wait to consider the terrain this way. She leaps onto the nearby roof, her shuriken flashing out to slam off the thing’s head, and Cid mentally concedes that she’s probably got the right idea of hitting this thing as hard as quickly as possible. Right as he’s about to leap out and bring some pain to the nearest limb, a glint of red catches his eye. Wait, that romper, is that-

* * *

The Guard Armor is having a hell of a time. All it wants is to smash the little white and blue thing before it can use another one if those hot balls on it, but the green and black thing keeps blocking its limbs, and the little red thing keeps moving too fast to squash. 

Something new clangs off its helmet. Metal creeks as it turns to look at the new challengers. Blue and white, and black and black. It calls its limbs back, retreating to where it has an angle on everything. 

So many little things to smash.

* * *

“Sora, when the hell did you get back! Geeze kid, I mean really! Gave us all friggin heart attacks! Where are the other two?” Ducking under the giant purple hand that flies at him, Cid gives it a good stab, jumping over the railing to get to the square center.

“Cid! Yuffie! Talk later, stab now!” The kid he’s raised for the last five years lashes out with his own lance, hooking into the leg of the armor, before magic bursts out, ice following fire in rapid succession. Sora levers his grip on his lance against the leg to flip down to the square. “Sheesh, this _kup-o kupo_. I finally get home, and this happens?”

“Ya got anything you wanna, I dunno, _tell me_ about where the hell you’ve been the last three months?” Sora throws up a hand, trying to get a moment’s reprieve from Cid, before he starts muttering to himself, seeing what Donald is building up.

“ _Oh that’s what I’ve been getting wrong. Not Fire then Blizzard, both of them at the same time, got it, got it. Okay, so if I just…_ ” A glowing orb flares up at the end of his lance, looking almost like something that a higher tier Fire Materia would output, but in a brilliant blue. “Donald, now!”

“Wak? You got it!” An identical orb spawns near the duck, as the two release the spell, the orbs tearing forward to slam into the body nearly at the same time. Flames wreath the armor, before it freezes solid, slamming into the ground.

“Now!” Who yells it, none of them can tell. But they all know an opportunity when they see it. The gathered fighters pounce. 

Moments later, an engorged heart floats towards the sky.

* * *

Explaining what happened when he got separated from Riku and Kairi is easier than he thought it was going to be, the time that’s passed removing some of the hurt of not having seen the two people he’d almost never been apart from for five years over the last three months. Being able to get an honest expression of shock out Cid and Yuffie when he decompressed the armor he’d been carrying in his coat pockets is almost worth it. Even with the level of size compression he can do, it’s nothing on the _weight_ compression that Merlin can do. The man packs his entire house into a handbag.

Either way, it’s a good thing he spent the last few months constantly working out, on top of several years of forge work, or else there would have been no way to get all of that gear back with him. It’s enough for basic gear for Riku and Kairi both, in addition the armor and accessories he’s already wearing. 

And being back home means he can build more materia linkages into them than he already had, but that will take time. First, time for more explanations. At least everyone came out of the fight okay.

* * *

“So, a friggin battleship almost takes you three out _in orbit_ of Traverse Town, throwing you all into the ass-end of nowhere, where some green chick kidnaps Kairi, kicks Riku to the curb through some crazy-ass portal, and leaves you knocked the frig out? Then _Merlin,_ of all people takes you in for three months? Loony wizard couldn’t even send a letter?”

“Cid, I’m going to find them. I gotta! Just let me build a gummi ship and-”

“And nothing! Geeze kid, we all thought you three were _dead!_ I’m not lettin you go anywhere, we’re gonna wait here for Barret to get back from pickin’ up that new buncha refugees, and _I’m gonna go get their asses myself!_ Should be back in a week or two, for now, you’re gonna rest your ass up, and then we’ll all go get their sorry butts outta whatever trouble they wound up caught in.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Honestly, I just love the blow me to bermuda sequence in Sword in the Stone. - L


	11. Riku: DArklands (pt 2)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Riku and company deal with castles and whales.

**The Next Boat Outta Here**

They barely spend a day at the castle. Riku would like more time, for the sake of repairing the _Medium Sized Bronco_ more thoroughly, but honestly this place gives him the creeps like nothing else ever has. Wonderland was bad, but in a frantic kind of way – this place just feels dead and rotten.

Huge, spiked vines snarl over every available surface of the castle, and something Dark lurks in the shadows around the open doors that sends a shiver up Riku’s spine whenever he turns his back to it. Nanaki had, upon exiting the ship once they landed, sneezed five times in a row, and then lept back into the gummi ship and refused to come out again, which makes Riku pretty sure he’s not the only one.

Even for the Darklands, this place is distinctly _evil_ in a way that the Heartless at large just... aren’t.

And despite how uncomfortable it makes him, what’s worse is the way that parts of the place feel, well, comfortable. Like if he could just get over the slimy feeling that the hallways he manages to explore (all two of them, before he stumbles upon a spinning wheel that radiates malice and loses his nerve) while looking for supplies, it might be comfortable. Cool and quiet and calm.

Something in the back of his head whispers _would it be so bad to stay and rest a while?_ _Your friends must have moved on by now, it’s been so long, you may as well give up._

Riku wavers, before a memory surfaces – Mogvar, teaching them and Sora and Kairi how to take curses off of enchanted objects so that they could be safely re-synthesized into something more useful. The pendant the Moogle had been demonstrating on them was relatively harmless, with a hex on it that gave the wearer a headache and blocked any attempt to do magic. All three of them had touched it, to better get a feel for the “before” and “after” state of the pendant. Later, Kairi had described it as “prickly” and Sora, when prompted, had likened it to the feeling of static buildup, just before you touch a doorknob and give yourself a nasty shock. Riku had just felt cool glass and a beckoning feeling before Kairi had stepped sharply on their foot after they failed to respond to a question and the world came rushing back.

This welcoming feels like the pendant, and now that he’s made the connection he can see what it’s doing, lulling him into a false sense of safety.

He pinches himself sharply on the arm, pays attention to the parts of this castle that are wrong-wrong-wrong, and shudders. The feeling of welcome fades, to his relief. This is no place to stay.

So he and Tifa patch up the gummi ship as quickly as possible, install the new cannon the huge laser-octopus Heartless had left behind when it disappeared, and they all get out of there as quickly as possible.

* * *

Nanaki is glad to leave the profound wrongness of the falling castle and poison vines. Cait Sith charts them a path to another used-to-be-a-World on the edge of the Darklands. The flight takes them a few hours, but this time there are no massive Heartless in their way and Tifa takes care of the scatters of smaller Heartless ships they come across. Riku, who had shyly announced that today was a boy-day upon arrival at the poison-castle, weaves through and around the return fire, and they make it through the journey without life-threatening incident.

Neither of the Humans got much rest on their last stop, which had been immediately after leaving Wonderland and fighting a huge Heartless. Riku especially is clearly lagging as he lands the ship carefully at another castle – this one shorter and studier, less twisted fairy tale spires and more practical, defensible walls.

Nanaki hops out of the ship, breathes in the stale air of the Darklands, and is relieved to find that whatever is here is only garden-variety terrible. There’s none of the itching, acrid taint of evil Magic – just Dark and Heartless and the oppressive gloom that is what passes for normal here.

“I will take the first watch,” he announces over his shoulder, prowling around to get a feel for the clearing they’re in – within the outer walls of the castle, tucked into a fairly defensible corner, circular well off a short way off which is presumably full of water even if Nanaki isn’t sure how much he trusts water from a fallen World. Riku has done a good job picking a landing spot.

Tifa rubs at her eyes and mutters something that’s probably an assent before gently prodding Riku out of the pilot’s seat, where the poor kid is practically about to fall asleep on the controls, and towards the sleeping quarters. Riku scoops up Cait Sith as he goes, and Nanaki finishes his circuit of the courtyard and settles in to guard the door.

He lets his watch stretch out longer than usual, mentally calculating how long Tifa needs to sleep to make up for having to pilot and repair the gummi ship and keep up with Riku, weighing that against his own needs (although of course Nanaki’s noble lineage means that his sleep requirements are less than those of a baseline human, they do still exist).

The hours pass, and only a few stray, lone Shadows pass by, which are easily dealt with by the expident application of Nanaki’s most powerful fire spell. He doesn’t even have to get up from his comfortable slouch in the doorway, which provides an excellent view of the entire courtyard approach.

Tifa actually wakes on her own just when he’s considering rousing her to pass off the watch, and she wanders up to join him with a mug of tea. She plops down companionably close, her legs dangling out over the lip of the door as she peers into the perpetual dimness of the Darklands.

“Anything interesting?” she asks, after half her tea is gone, sounding reasonably awake, and Nanaki shakes his head.

“No, it's been quiet. This part of the Darklands is not so overrun with Heartless – likely it fell very recently.” He rises, stretching gracefully, and prepares to go curl up in the small nest of blankets he has in the sleeping quarters to catch a few hours of sleep. “It should make excellent training grounds, actually.”

Tifa hums in agreement, looking around the courtyard again with the faint furrow of a frown evident in her eyebrows.

“Heartless aplenty if we go looking, I imagine,” Nanaki continues, thinking that perhaps Tifa’s reluctance is due to his description of the area as ‘quiet.’ Her particular brand of training is... definitively not quiet. “And a safe place to leave the ship. Clear evidence of inhabitants before it fell, which means there are probably supplies.”

“Yeeessss,” Tifa says slowly, still looking pensive. Her mouth twists into an unhappy line. “Nanaki, do you think it’s odd that we’ve seen so many recently fallen Worlds? So close together, I mean. If Riku was on Wonderland when it fell – say he was there two weeks, three at most. And we stayed a few days after finding the kid. That last Castle was also definitely recent, Cait Sith’s scans suggested within the last month. And then this one? With practically no Heartless present?”

Nanaki shrugs. “It’s likely we are just at the edges of the Darklands. That’s good, that means we’ll be able to get out soon, once we’ve spent some time preparing. We should be grateful for the fortune of managing to find such an... well, I hesitate to call any part of the Darklands _ideal_ , but you take my meaning.”

“I guess that makes sense.” Tifa says, and takes another sip of her tea, and brightens. “Ooooh, I can teach the kid how to throw a proper punch! His form is terrible, this is what comes of leaving Yuffie and Cid in charge of teaching hand-to-hand.”

Nanaki rolls his eyes at Tifa’s clear passion for matrial arts instruction, and retreats into the gummi ship.

His sleep is troubled, and he wakes still mulling over Tifa’s question.

* * *

The quality of the light – or rather, the lack thereof – has changed not a bit by the time Riku wanders out to the door, yawning. Tifa scoots over to give the kid some space in the doorway, and gets a grateful nod in return.

They sit like that for a few minutes, Tifa scanning the courtyard and Riku attempting to wake up all the way. Eventually, Tifa breaks the comfortable silence.

“So, kid, wanna do some exploring today? I’ll teach you how to flip a Big Belly over your shoulder if we find one.”

Riku stares at her in uncomprehending awe for a moment, and then smiles. “Yeah. Maybe we’ll even find some better shield gummi blocks in there.”

* * *

They do find a shield gummi, as well as several other items and interesting-looking components that Riku tucks away into their backpack, over the days they spend in this quiet chunk of the Darklands.

Tifa, as promised, teaches them to flip a large opponent generally, and how to trip up a charging Big Body specifically. It’s terrifying, and the first dozen or so times they try Riku either loses their nerve and dodges the charge or waits too long and gets slammed into.

But eventually they get the hang of it, and Tifa actually jumps and punches the air in triumph the first time she watches them come out of the charge successfully, with the Big Body on the ground.

They slam their keyblade into its exposed back and watch the glowing heart float away into the darkness.

“ _Nice,_ kid, I told ya you’d get it!” Tifa squeels, and ruffles a hand through the high ponytail Riku has their hair in today. They smile back at Tifa’s enthusiasm, and accept Nanaki’s rumbling congratulations.

The three of them head head up the staircase the Big Body and the small horde of Shadows that had accompanied it appeared in front of. According to the rough map Tifa’s been making to track their exploration progress, this is the last staircase, and it’s in the corner tower which means it should lead to a few rooms at best.

Cait Sith had explained to Riku that the Darklands as a rule was highly malleable, and paths rarely lead to the same place twice. But some parts were more likely to remain stable than others. Places that had fallen into Darkness recently, the robot cat said, tended to hold onto what one could call their sense of identity for a while before truly merging into the chaos of the Darklands.

So although Riku knows in theory that the Darklands don’t stick to any kind of known geography, with or without magical oddities, they still aren’t _really_ expecting to emerge from the staircase into a rough-hewn cave which features only a raised table draped in velvet and a mirror.

Tifa half-heartedly explores the corners of the cavern, and is rewarded with a handful of munny and a potion for her troubles, but both Riku and Nanaki approach the mirror, which feels sort of like it’s gently diffusing magic into the air.

Given that Nanaki is right next to them, Riku is surprised to see themself alone in the mirror. Their reflection stares back, smirking confidently, and holds out a hand towards Riku. They find themself reaching back without thinking about it, and in their head something murmurs, _see what you could be? Why even keep trying, you have no advantages, it’s taken a week to learn how to trip one enemy, a move mischievous five year olds have no problems mastering._

The Riku in the mirror continues to offer a hand, and the Riku in reality only sort of notices the way the reflection’s eyes go hard and flinty, the way curls of Darkness swirl in at the edges.

_You’re not special, but you could be, you could save yourself, save your friends, you-_

Nanaki knocks into their legs, hard enough that their knees buckle and they automatically put a hand on his warm, fuzzy shoulder to catch themself.

Riku blinks. “What..?”

“You looked like you were going to touch the mirror. Given that the mirror is not _reflecting_ anything, it seemed unwise to let you do so.” The guardian peers up at them in obvious concern.

They glance at the mirror, and find it completely blank. There is no evidence of their confident reflection, and they find themself shivering all of the sudden.

“We should head out,” Tifa says, coming up to the pair of them and unceremoniously stuffing the potion she’s found into the outer pocket of Riku’s backpack, where it will be accessible if anyone needs it on their way back to the _Medium-Sized Bronco._ “Cait Sith said it’d be done with the calculations for reaching the border of the Darklands by now, and we’re out of dusty hallways to wander down.”

As the three of them leave the room, Riku can’t help taking one last glance towards the mirror. Faint tendrils of darkness swirl on its surface, and they turn away, uneasy, and follow Tifa and Nanaki back down the stairs

They don’t see the darkness rise up, swallow the mirror, and then disappear, leaving only the velvet tablecloth behind.

* * *

“Cait Sith,” Tifa says, much later, as she squeezes some truly disgusting water that she _absolutely does not want to think about too hard_ out of her hair. “Remind me the next time we see Reeve to get him to upgrade your navigation capabilities to account for the migratory paths of giant, Hel’s cursed, ship-eating _space whales._ ”

“Aye, Ah’ll make a not o’ it.” Cait Sith says, as chipper as ever from its position face-down on what the squishy, spongy surface that Tifa is determinedly only thinking of as ‘the ground.’

“There seems to be another ship back there,” Nanaki observes, looking faintly green – or, well, as green as it’s possible for a furry orange creature to look, which isn’t very. Tifa doesn’t blame him, this is _disgusting._ “It sounds occupied.”

Tifa heaves a sigh and looks at the horrible pond of water that is the pool of _saliva_ at the bottom of the _mouth of the whale that has just eaten them._ There’s enough debris floating in it that she can probably get across without touching the stuff.

Riku twists their hair up into a bun, presumably to minimize the chance of it coming into contact with, well, anything in here. Smart kid. Too bad it’s definitely too late for Tifa to do the same.

She lifts Cait Sith, wipes off some of the goo stuck to its face (ew, ew, _ew_ ) and goes to set it on the wing of the ship to keep watch. Riku stops her, and gently takes the robot out of her hands.

“I don’t think anything’s going to get the ship from... from in here.” The kid says, wrinkling their nose as they shift their weight and things audibly squelch.

“Also, um, it’s ‘he’ again please, _kupo._ ”

Nanaki nods and Tifa gives him a thumbs up. “You’re probably right. Okay, let’s go... cross the disgusting lake of whale spit to touch more gross things, and hope whoever’s over there is friendly.”

She doesn’t fall in, but it’s a near thing, and one boot is full of something horrible by the time the four of them make it across. Tifa takes a moment to dump her boot out, and also to be thankful she isn’t Nanaki, who got dripped on by something viscous and smelly and is clearly already grimly considering the logistical nightmare of getting it out of his fur later.

This is the worst.

* * *

Geppetto, the owner of the ship at the... far side of the... cavern, is indeed friendly. He’s an older gentleman, with kind eyes and a bristly white mustache.

He’s also completely distraught, as his son, Pinno-something, has run off deeper into the -

Yeah, there’s no way to think around it, Nanaki realizes glumly as he stares at the entrance to the whale’s throat. Tifa is quick to assure the old man that his kid is gonna be fine, and Riku immediately volunteers the four of them to go looking.

Which is fair, since it’s clear Geppetto is too old and not enough of a fighter besides to go wandering around an enormous whale’s digestive system. But that does mean that _they_ are going to have to go wander around an enormous whale’s digestive system looking for...

Hold on, did he just say that Pinocchio was a _puppet_? What a terrible way to talk about a child!

Nanaki bristles indignantly as they step through the opening, which is moving slightly. So are the rest of the... walls, once they make it through into the technicolored, foul-smelling nightmare that lies before them.

He remains indignant though the two waves of Heartless that pop up in the first chamber, and holds onto the feeling as the four of them clamber up some surfaces Nanaki could not even _begin_ to guess the purpose of in order to reach the entrance to the next chamber.

It turns out to be two entrances, and there is no helpful trail of crumbs or other path suggesting which one Pinocchio has taken.

Nanaki scents the air, with extreme reluctance, and immediately regrets it. That is _horrible._

“I can’t smell any trace of humans other than you two,” he tells Tifa and Riku, who look at him weirdly.

“Yeah that makes sense,” Tifa says slowly, “Geppetto did tell us that he was a puppet.”

“Tifa!” Nanaki looks at her, surprised that his friend could be so callous. “That’s no way to speak of a lost cub!”

Riku’s odd expression clears, and he actually _giggles_ , a bright and clear sound that for a moment drowns out the strange noises of the whale’s digestive system and other assorted organs. “He meant literally, Nanaki. Pinocchio’s a puppet made out of wood, who got brought to life.”

Ah, well. That makes considerably more sense. Nanaki grumbles awkwardly, but braces himself and sniffs the air again. No luck, just acidic filth.

“I don’t smell any wood either, not in this direction.”

The lot of them stare contemplatively at the two entrances, which now that Nanaki is paying attention are definitely opening and closing to some demented pattern. He shudders at the reminder that everything around him is alive in a very literal, fleshy sense.

Cait Sith breaks the silence, “Maybe we should split up, so?”

Nanaki dislikes this plan immediately, but Tifa is nodding like it makes sense and Riku perks up at the idea, so he’s probably about to be outvoted.

He sighs, and carries on holding his tail at an awkward angle so that it doesn’t risk dragging through any suspicious puddles, which is all of them.

* * *

Riku ends up with Cait Sith, and takes the entrance to the left. This is decided after a hasty but heated discussion, where Nanaki and Tifa both want one of them to be his backup, but ultimately other practicalities win out.

Nanaki cannot carry Cait Sith, and Tifa cannot both carry Cait Sith and fight effectively. Riku, on the other hand, can stuff Cait Sith in his backpack, where the plush cat will be able to see and cast spells, and he doesn’t do nearly enough flips in combat to be in danger of dropping it. Riku’s also the only one with a keyblade, so Nanaki and Tifa, who are at a disadvantage against the Heartless, should stick together.

The deciding argument is actually Cait Sith itself, who points out that it’s the only one with a cure materia so it “may as weel go w’ the lad, aye?” just in case.

In any case, the valve shuts tightly as soon as Riku steps through, Cait Sith safely in his backpack, so the decision can’t really be gone back on.

He looks warily back at the entrance, and then jumps down from the ledge he’s on to investigate the barrel he can see below. It turns out to be occupied by a Heartless that reminds him of an uncomfortably enormous spider, and he stumbles back in surprise before collecting himself enough to summon Guiding Star.

After that Heartless is finally beaten back, two more spider-barrel-things appear, and then some Nocturnes and Rhapsodies. And once he’s defeated _those_ , a horde of Shadows turns up on their heels.

Riku grits his teeth and continues his slow slog through the chamber, keeping an ear out for Cait Sith’s warnings of attacks from behind and doggedly ignoring the whispers in his head about how there’s an _easier way to get through this all, you’ll never find him at this rate, there’s power here just reach out and take it-_

He hopes the others are having an easier time of it.

* * *

Tifa stares at the box, and then looks at Nanaki, who is also staring incredulously at the box. Unfortunately, this suggests she’s not just seeing things.

“What, in the name of Shiva’s left tit, is this?” she demands, just in case.

“It appears to be three dalmation pups,” Nanaki says, leaning down to touch noses with the boldest of the little dogs. It yips happily (to Tifa’s ears, anyway), and Nanaki rumbles something back before continuing, “They say they have been separated from their adoptive parents and siblings, because their World was swallowed by the Darkness.”

Tifa goes to run her hands through her hair in frustration, and immediately regrets it as she’s reminded of the terrible things that are probably still stuck in there. “Well we can’t just leave them here.”

She scoops up the box, puppies and all, and is rewarded with an enthusiastic lick to her chin. Ugh. Well, that’s probably not any grosser than the rest of today has been.

They head off further into the chamber, which has been suspiciously devoid of Heartless, and keep looking for the lost puppet.

* * *

By the time he and Cait Sith stumble across Pinocchio, Riku is starting to get worn down. The parade of Heartless has been relentless, more than any other place they’ve been, and something nudges at the back of his thoughts, a constant mantra of _is this even worth it?_

It’s one more distraction Riku really can’t afford when fighting this many Heartless without backup, and Cait Sith has to put up a Barrier more than once so that Riku doesn’t get knocked off his feet in a moment of carelessness.

There’s boy, who on closer inspection is quite angular and definitely made out of wood, stuck in the belly-cage-thing of a Heartless that has too many eyes and Riku is tired but he said they’d find the kid and here the kid is.

Just gotta get him back to his _father, hah, as if a lifeless puppet could have such a thing_.

Riku blinks at the thought, brought up short by it in the entrance to the chamber with the large Heartless. That doesn’t make sense, Pinocchio’s pretty clearly full of life, if the frantic cries for help are any indication.

 _It’s not like you have a father, and you actually have a heart – what is this_ **_object_ ** _to keep you from your goals? Why are you here, running errands instead of finding your friends?_

Riku wavers, and steps out into the clear area near the Heartless. His friends are fine, he hopes, but Pinocchio right now is not. He has no way of getting to Sora and Kairi, but he can protect Pinocchio and get him back to Geppetto right here and right now.

 _But you_ **_could_ ** _get to them, you just have to reach out and open a path, open the Door..._

And Riku can _see it_ , shining right there in front of him, handle invitingly close to his hand and he _knows_ that this path will lead wherever he needs to go, that the power to find his friends is literally at his fingertips. He reaches out.

_Yes, go on, leave the puppet, what worth does it have without a heart?_

But that’s ridiculous, Riku thinks, and the thought feels far away and slightly unreal but continues anyway, Cait Sith doesn’t have a heart either, it’s a robot, and Reeve made it - but it’s still my friend, and I still care about it.

Like Geppetto must care about Pinocchio, the man had been so worried, and-

Riku blinks hard, and the door dissolves. Cait Sith’s frantic warning reaches his ears just in time to dodge a blow from the cage Heartless, which has apparently gotten tired of waiting for him to make the first move. Pinocchio stumbles

“Don’t worry, Pinocchio!” Riku yells as he summons Guiding Star and drops into a guard stance, “We’re here to take you back to your dad!”

* * *

Getting out of the belly of the beast had been just as disgusting as it was on the way in. Thankfully, Cait Sith remembered the route they’d taken to reach Pinnochio, and returning was a quicker process. Tifa and Nanaki had returned before they made it back, waiting with Geppetto, and doing patchwork on his gummi ship. 

“Father!”

“Oh! Pinocchio! Oh my dear sweet boy, come to papa!” Pinnochio rushes forward, Geppetto sweeping him up in his arms. The reunion brings ease to Riku, allaying the fears and intrusive thoughts that had been bothering him while trying to find the boy.

“Hey kid! Nicely done. Though, we’ve still got a problem. Patched up Geppetto’s ship as best we could, but their navigation gummi got wrecked when Monstro swallowed them.”

Cait Sith pipes up, having been fairly quiet along the return trip. “Ah’ been workin’ the maths, we’re a damned sight closer to the edge of the Darklands than we were when we go’ picked up by the great beastie. Decently shure I can get us outta here without the thing. Give ‘im ours.” Tifa’s glare gets the robot to throw up its arms in annoyance. “Ah’m pretty sure this is th’ only damned onna these whales, an you know it!”

Squishiness of the environment aside, transplanting the navigation gummi goes without incident. Tifa had enough time to use the spare debris around to create a more easily navigable route through the mouth, carefully avoiding any of the deeper looking areas. After having to work through half the whale’s digestive system, no one feels like dealing with more sludge. While Tifa retrieves the block, Riku rustles through his bag, finding the letter he’d written while they rested at the last castle. A note, letting Cid know he’s okay, and with Tifa, Nanaki, and Cait Sith. Some of what's happened… He left out the parts with the mirror. Best not worry Cid any further. The paper gets quickly yanked out of his hands, as Tifa smoothly swaps it for the gummi block. 

“You’re better with installing these things, I gotta add some stuff I just thought of.” Is all she says, patting him on the back, before sitting down at Geppetto’s table and scribbling away.

* * *

Geppetto and Pinnochio had said their goodbyes, packing up what little they had that survived their whale of an adventure, as well as the puppies and letter, before flying off into the stars, making a b-line for Traverse Town. Hooking Cait Sith up to the Gummi Ship further to act as the navigation gummi had taken a short while, but the Medium-Sized Bronco is soon flying, up, up, and out of the gaping maw.

As the ship reaches escape velocity to finally get away from the kup-ing huge whale, something catches Riku's eye. 

"Hey Cait Sith," he says, pointing at the World, "Can you chart a path to that twinkle? It looks important."

"Nay problem, lad!" Cait Sith responds, processors whirring, "which one was tha'?"

"There, second star to the right."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, two in a row at decent hours! Not that it's a decent hour for H, but I'm counting it since it's more reasonable over here. - L


	12. Kairi: Agrabah

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Kairi makes some friends, and Jafar makes some enemies.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this is late, y'all, life happened. At least it's a long one to make up for it :) -H

**Abrakadabra, LET 'ER RIP**

Meg, Phil, and Pegasus are all there to meet them at the unassuming cave that is the entrance to the Underworld. Phil’s wearing his habitual frown, and Kairi has no idea how to read Pegasus’s equine face, but Meg is wearing her habitual smirk, and it widens into a more genuine smile when she sees the four of them reach the top of the stairs.

“Hey guys!” Kairi bounces over, grinning. She feels on top of the world right now, the leftovers of a weird adrenaline rush from interacting with Hades and the subsequent climb (she’s never felt so much pressure about  _ walking up a staircase _ before) and they  _ did it. _ They’re all out, and now she can go find her friends. “We’re back!”

“Hey short stuff.” Meg says, and tugs lightly on her ponytail. Kairi takes this sign of affection as permission to hug the older woman, who takes a second to be startled before she catches on and returns the embrace. In the depths of the Underworld, a distant enraged yell can be heard, and Kairi can feel a sudden heat flare at her back before it immediately fades to nothing. “Nice job.”

“Yeah,” Phil agrees, reaching up to pat Kairi’s side approvingly. “I’d say the show with the Ice Titan was good, but getting flame brain down there to blow his stack  _ definitely  _ qualifies ya to be a genuine  _ Junior Hero!” _

Kairi releases Meg and smiles at the satyr. “Thanks, Phil, that’s really cool!”

She turns around to tell Cloud, only to find him staring at Zack in shock. Literal shock, she thinks. Like that time that Sora broke his arm when they were ten and got really pale really fast.

Zack doesn’t seem to be suffering the same problem. He grins, wide and friendly and open, announces,  _ Hey thanks Cloud! I knew you’d pull through, buddy! _

Cloud starts crying, but doesn’t seem aware of it, eyes locked on Zack, who’s still beaming at him.

“You’re here – not the Lifestream, real – Kairi, you can see him right?” Cloud demands, not actually looking away from Zack.

“Yep,  _ kupo _ !” Kairi says, and gives her cheesiest Sora-two-thumbs-up impression, which is lost on Cloud but not Vincent, who snorts in amusement. “Tall, big sword, ridiculous hair. All there.”

_ Awwww Cloud, did you miss me? _ Zack teases, and goes in for a hug. He passes straight through Cloud, and both of them shiver and make a face at the sensation.

_... I don’t know what you were expecting, _ Vincent says mildly as Zack pouts dramatically.  _ I told you it was likely. _

_ Is it even worth not being all the way dead if I can’t mess up Spikey’s hair? _ Zack asks the sky, and the easy way he and Vincent are bantering tells Kairi they probably had some time to get to know each other while she and Cloud (but mostly her) were beating up a bunch of Heartless.

Cloud makes a panicked noise at that, and Zack flails, trying to pat him comfortingly on the shoulder and failing.

_ Aw, fuuuu- _ he clearly notices Kairi out of the corner of his eye and changes tracks mid-word (Kairi rolls her eyes. She’s lived with Cid for years, there’s very little language she finds shocking at this point),  _ -uudge, Cloudy, I didn’t mean it, I’m really glad you found me, please don’t panic – you! Kid! Kairi, right? _

Kairi nods, and Zack makes frantic little “c’mere” gestures at her until she walks over.

_ Kairi I need you to do me a favor, and hug this man, because I have a stupid ghost not-body and can’t do it.  _ Zack says, and gestures towards Cloud as if he’s revealing the prize on a game show.

Meg about falls over laughing in the background as Kairi hugs Cloud and then, also on Zack’s instructions, goes to mess up his hair and gets hung upside-down by her knees over his back for her trouble.

* * *

“So, now we go find Sora and Riku, right?” says Kairi, once Cloud has let her down and Meg’s pulled herself together enough to invite them to dinner, which turns out to be some kind of roast vegetable and flatbread dish from a local food vendor who had known Meg by sight and asked if she wanted ‘the usual.’ (“I don’t cook, kiddo,” Meg had said, tossing her her hair over her shoulder, “Better things to do with my time.” “Also she’s terrible at it,” Phil stage-whispered, and dodged the kick neatly.)

_ Yes _ , says Vincent, as Cloud nods, mouth full of food.

“Great, where’d you guys leave your gummi ship?”

Cloud freezes, looking guilty. Vincent’s expression doesn’t change. This is mostly because he’s a better liar than Cloud. The two exchange glances.

Really, Vincent things ruefully, they should have expected her to ask. Spend enough time with Cid and you assume everyone takes care of their equipment and keeps track of it.

“Um,” says Cloud, who actually usually does take care of his equipment - those pieces of it he’s emotionally attached to, anyway. “About that.”

Kairi has spent long enough with them to read into this attempt at hedging – Vincent feels a little thrill of pride, she’s coming along great at reading people – to be deeply suspicious of this. “How’d you get here if you don’t have a gummi ship, then?”

Cloud clears his throat awkwardly, and says simply, “We walked.”

“From where?!” Kairi demands, waving her arms in a way that threatens to dump all her vegetables out of her flatbread and into her lap. “That’s not how-”

She cuts herself off, belatedly remembering Reeve’s rambling discussions and Barrett’s much more pointed lecture on the World Order, and finishes, mumbling, “-how you get to the Underworld, is it?”

Meg, who hadn’t batted an eye at two ghosts and seems to be in this whole business with the primary goal of pissing Hades off, solidifies her position as Vincent’s current favorite local by striking up a loud conversation with Phil and Zack about whether or not the Muses’ commentary really adds to the ambiance of a day out at the Coliseum for the average Thebian family.

_ Not usually, no _ Vincent explains,  _ we did start our journey with a gummi ship but... circumstances occurred and, well. The cockpit gummi was completely destroyed. _

“I still have one of the Flare gummi engines – well, if it’s where we stashed it, anyway.” Cloud adds, and shrugs. “There’s ways to get between Worlds that aren’t gummi ships, regardless of what Cid’s probably told you.”

“Well,  _ I’m _ not gonna be the one to tell a bunch of whackadoodle goddess who think it’s their sworn duty to be ‘proclaimers of heroes’ that sometimes their proclaimin’ is distractin’ to the paying customers!” Phil’s raised voice interrupts the conversation.

There is a long moment where everyone who can eat actual, physical food, chews in awkward silence.

Meg is the one to break it. “So, you guys are leaving?”

Vincent nods.  _ If we can find a mode of transportation, yes. _

“You wanna borrow Pegasus?” she asks, jerking a thumb at the winged horse in question, who looks up guiltily from where he was in the process of stealing Phil’s flatbread. “Poor guy’s bored with Herc out at the Frontlines.”

“You know about the Frontlines?” Kairi asks, dinner forgotten on the table in front of her. “Wait, does that mean we didn’t have to be sneaky about the whole conversation about, y’know, um...”

“Worlds,” Meg says, taking pity on the kid, “Yeah, but it’s good practice. And not everyone in Thebes knows about it, just us that Herc properly explained his new big quest to. Pegasus dropped him off there, and takes letters back and forth sometimes.”

Kairi clearly wants to ask more, but she bites her lip and just looks worried, instead. Vincent fronts and files it away to poke at more some other time.

“If he wouldn’t mind taking us, yes, that would be very helpful.” he says, to cover for Kairi’s sudden silence.

“How about it, Feathers?” Phil asks, and Pegasus nods and whickers agreeably, chewing on the flatbread.

_ Awesome, let’s go! _ Zack says, jumping up.  _ Just one question first – who are Sora and Riku, and why do we need to find them? _

* * *

It turns out that traveling between Worlds without a gummi ship or a magic portal  _ is  _ possible, although Kairi is disappointed to learn that’s not nearly as flexible (or safe) as the more traditional options. The space between Worlds is easiest to access as ‘outer space,’ which is why gummi ships need life support and the ability to escape any given World’s gravity, but there are other places where Worlds border each other, and there are places where those borders can be crossed.

_ You can’t _ , Vincent is careful to stress as he and Zack float along next to them, keeping up easily with Pegasus’s rapid flight,  _ actually just walk between them. Travel between worlds is a feat of Magic, and requires a good deal of power. _

“So, Pegasus is just naturally so magical that he can do it,  _ kupo _ ?” Kairi asks, and Vincent nods.

The fly for ages over beautiful countryside, and as the sun sets Kairi blinks and finds herself looking down at a city that is definitely  _ not  _ anywhere near Thebes – they’d used sundials, and had very limited mechanics, and Pegasus is taking them straight towards a huge, ornate clock tower.

“Woah,” she breathes, leaning over Pegasus’s shoulder to get a better look at the softly glowing lights in the windows and lining cobblestone streets.

They land on the clock tower, and Pegasus stretches his wings and pants dramatically for a moment before looking expectantly at them.

“Oh, we’re taking a break?” Kairi asks, and he nods in reply. “Alright,  _ kupo _ , just let us know when you’re ready to go.”

* * *

Kairi and Cloud are sitting on the edge of the tower, legs dangling over the street far below, when a bunch of children fly by trailing glowing golden dust. He instinctively throws a protective arm across Kairi’s chest to prevent her falling off the ledge if she startles, but it turns out to be unnecessary – she’s already scrambling to her feet looking serious by the time Cloud has processed that the kids are chasing something.

“Quick, catch it!” One of them yells, darting off to the side to herd the thing towards the tower.

“I’m trying, I’m trying!” another calls back, somersaulting in the air in a way that doesn’t look intentional as he reaches out to the thing.

As the thing gets closer to the glowing face of the clock, Cloud sees that it’s pitch black, in the shape of a person, and might be a Heartless. What in the name of the Ancients could a bunch of children want to  _ catch  _ a Heartless for? The most humanoid Heartless he’s ever seen, which is super weird but – there, it reaches the ledge and sinks into the ground the same way Shadows do.

Kairi’s summoned her keyblade by this point, and she runs towards it, just as a girl in a blue dress attempts to land on the ledge to chase the maybe-Heartless and collides full-force with Kairi.

* * *

With the help of the strange girl and her arguably even stranger companions, they manage to nab Peter’s shadow and Wendy finds herself slumping in relief as she stitches it back onto the boy’s shoes. It’s a little worse for wear after the girl had hit it a few times with the huge sword, but maybe that means it’ll stay where it belongs for a while.

“Thank you very much for your help,” Wendy tells her, trying to ignore how she can kind of see through two of the adults with her. “My name’s Wendy. These are my brothers, John and Michael, that’s Peter who’s shadow we just caught, and this is Tinkerbell.”

“Oh, it’s no problem! I’m Kairi,” the girl says, smiling back. “We’re just stopping by, I think, but it’s nice to meet you!”

She makes no effort to introduce the various adults, who are talking (or possibly arguing) quietly over by a napping horse with  _ wings _ , goodness, this is the strangest night.

“Just stopping by?” Wendy asks, a little disappointed. She loves her brothers, but oh, it would be so nice to go on adventure with a girl her own age. Kairi seems a little wild, nothing like the ‘proper young lady’ her own mother is always absently telling her she ought to be acting like.

“Yeah,” Kairi says, looking apologetic. “We’re looking for my friends, Sora and Riku – we all got separated, and now Pegasus is taking us to try and find them? I think.”

“Oh dear! I hope you find them.” Wendy says, and Kairi nods, looking briefly worried before she grins back.

“I’m sure we will!”

Just then, one of the adults, the blond one with the big sword (not to be confused with the dark-haired guy with the big sword), comes up and taps Kairi gently on the head to get her attention. “Hey, kid. Pegasus seems to think this isn’t where he’s dropping us off, for some reason or another, so we’re headed out.”

“Alright, Cloud,” Kairi says, and then gives Wendy a big wave. “It was nice to meet you, Wendy! I hope you have a good adventure.”

* * *

Jasmine squints at the ledger in front of her. She’s pretty sure that’s a terrible price for the amount of grain, but her father had insisted on doing the negotiations, and he likes this particular diplomat a little too much to be ruthless.

Sighing, she slumps in her chair and absently pets the tiger that pads up to her when he notices her attention is no longer on the affairs of the country.

“Oh, Rajah,” she says quietly, “I’m bored, and then I feel guilty for being bored doing my duty to my people, and then angry for feeling guilty because why  _ should I _ when Father will never let me actually run anything? It’s always  _ Jasmine when you are married,  _ and  _ But of course your husband will _ and I hate it.”

Rajah leans comfortingly against her as she stands and walks out to the balcony, gazing over the sands of Agrabah. Something in the distance moves – a bird, maybe, although it’s late and that seems unlikely. He starts purring a bit when Jasmine starts up again with the petting, rubbing the really good spot behind his ear.

“He never listens to me,” Jasmine continues after a while, eyes still locked on the horizon, “I just wish something would come along that would make him see that the law is wrong.”

In Agrabah, there is a saying:  _ if you wish, wish for more _ . One of Jasmine’s tutors had explained it once as meaning that since it wasn’t going to amount to anything without work, you may as well desire the stars. They weren’t going to just come dancing down into your hands from only a wish.

In Agrabah, there is  _ not _ a saying:  _ be careful what you wish for _ .

However, Jasmine is likely to coin it, some day in the future, when she tries to describe to someone the weeks of chaos that follow this wistful statement, starting from a flying horse landing on her balcony in the middle of the night.

* * *

“And so, we’re looking for my friends, Sora and Riku, but it sure seems like you’ve got a Heartless problem, and we’d be happy to help out with that!” Kairi finishes, and Princess Jasmine nods thoughtfully.

She’s taken the whole situation with impressive grace, even when a crowd of Heartless had swirled up out of the shadows and attacked just as she was demanding to know who they were and what they wanted. The princess had quickly gotten herself to a defensible spot while Cloud and Kairi made fairly quick world of the Heartless, where she flung various cosmetics and decorations from her desk with viciously-accurate aim at any Shadow that came too close.

Now that she’s calmed her tiger down and they’d explained what they were doing appearing in her private (and, apparently, quite well-guarded) rooms at such an hour, Vincent can practically see the gears in her head turning as she works out how best to utilize their help with the Heartless.

Princess Jasmine is just leaning forward with a curious expression, probably to ask about Kairi’s keyblade, when there’s a clattering sound outside the door. Immediately, her expression drops into something closer to panic.

“Oh, no,” she says, leaping to her feet and starting to herd the lot of them towards a silk-draped doorway off to the side. “Someone’s heard the fight, probably, you need to hide!”

She shoves them into her closet, shuts the drapes tightly, and with a final hissed “stay here, I’ll take care of it.” she heads back towards the main door.

Vincent watches through a slit in the drapes as the princess pauses to untie her hair and mess it up, as if she’s been peacefully sleeping this whole time, before opening the door and saying “this had better be important, to interrupt my rest.”

“Ah, Princess,” an oily voice says, and a second later a man enters, in stern-looking robes and carrying a staff that all of Vincent’s instincts scream is bad news. (In his experience, snake decorations with jewel insets for eyes are never  _ good _ news, anyway.) “The guards say they heard the sounds of a fight. How fortunate you do not appear to be harmed. Perhaps this... incident, will finally convince you that it is imperative you keep a guard with you at all times, and not simply forbid them from entering your rooms.”

He can’t see Jasmine’s face, but he can definitely hear the eye-roll in her voice as she responds. After some back and forth, the guy finally leaves and Jasmine lets them tumble out of the closet. Well, Cloud and Kairi tumble. Vincent and Zack just sort of float.

“Sorry about Jafar,” she says, and starts putting her hair back in its braid, looking frustrated. “My father wants me to marry for politics, and  _ he  _ wants to be the one to marry me and become Sultan and ugh.”

“Wait,” Kairi says, frowning. “You’re, like, practically running things for your dad, right? But if you get married, you don’t get to be Sultan? Queen?”

“Sultana,” Jasmine corrects, before answering, “No, the laws of Agrabah say that only a man can sit on the throne. I’m actually not even allowed to leave the palace.”

Kairi wrinkles her nose in indignation on Jasmine’s behalf. “That’s so dumb. Like, you should be able to marry whoever you want and still be Sultana. You’re already doing the job!”

Jasmine shrugs. “The law can be changed, but my father worries, and so he listens to Jafar – his advisor – more than me. But if I have to marry, I’d like it to be someone I care about, not just someone with an influential father of his own.”

“Well, we probably can’t help with that,” Cloud interjects, from where he’s been rummaging through Jasmine’s closet. He comes over with a beautifully embroidered skirt in his hands. “But your father wants you to have bodyguards, right? Maybe we can get you a little more freedom that way.”

* * *

The Sultan, a very round man with a friendly face and an impressive mustache, squints at the ‘letter of qualification’ Cloud and Vincent had mocked up the night before. “Well, Miss Cloud, everything certainly seems to be in order... from Nibel, you said? I must say, I’ve never heard of it.”

“The far away mountains, sir,” Cloud says smoothly, looking quite fetching in the dress Jasmine had loaned him, sword strapped to his back still. “My apprentice and I have journeyed on the request of the Princess, as she felt it would be improper to have men in her personal rooms.”

Kairi straightens up and does her best to look like a competent bodyguard.

“Well, well, I must say, it’s unusual in Agrabah to say the least, but...” The Sultan trails off as Jasmine gives him big, pleading puppy eyes that would give Sora’s best efforts a run for their money, “... but as usual, my daughter does appear to be right. Very well, you’re hired!”

As they leave the throne room, Kairi catches Jafar looking after Cloud’s retreating back with a complicated and unpleasant expression on his face. Leering and loathing all in one.

She scowls and mutters, “I  _ really  _ don’t like that guy.”

_ Me either, _ says Zack as he and Vincent rejoin them in the corridor.  _ He’s so smug and slimey. _

“Exactly! I just want him to stop creeping all over the place,  _ kupo. _ ”

Zack stops in his tracks and an unholy grin spreads over his face.  _ I think we can arrange that. Hey Spikey, remember when... _

* * *

By the third morning after their arrival, Jafar has had his coffee salted, his robes dyed bright pink, and all his left shoes stolen. The advisor is beginning to look a little wild around the eyes.

Cloud considers telling Kairi and Zack to stop, but honestly he’s missed Zack’s antics.

Jasmine has to smother an undignified snort when the man walks into the throne room one day absolutely dripping in ink, and Cloud settles on telling them to tone it down, because honestly Jafar might murder someone if he looses much more sleep to the mysterious ticking noises coming from inside his walls, where Zack had hidden a small clockwork monkey.

At least they’re having fun.

* * *

Jasmine still hasn’t managed to talk her father into letting her leave the palace, bodyguards or no bodyguards, but that really doesn’t seem to matter much to either Kairi or Cloud, who simply dress her up in the plainest clothes she owns and cover her face and hair in a modest scarf and take her to see the market.

It’s so  _ fascinating.  _ She’s spent so long studying Agrabah’s economy, but only the big picture of it. How many tons of gold and salt and spices leave the country, how many of grain and iron and silks are brought in. None of her lessons ever included the reality of everyone yelling and haggling, the competing smells of three different food vendor’s baskets.

Nor, she thinks regretfully, did they include the reality of the ones who slipped through the cracks. She doesn’t have any munny on her – she’s actually never had to deal with the stuff – but she talks Kairi into buying some bread for the street kids who come up to her without much effort at all.

This act earns her the attention of a man who isn’t a street kid only by virtue of being much too old to be considered a ‘kid’ of any sort. He has a kind face, Jasmine thinks, and laughs as he juggles apples and drops half of them, sheepishly picking them up and handing them back to the irritated vendor.

Aladdin is just introducing himself when the Heartless appear again, springing up in pots and from nowhere at all. The market is suddenly deserted, and Jasmine finds Cloud at her elbow pulling her out of the fight while Kairi charges forward, glowing sword in hand.

* * *

“What,” Aladdin gasps, hands braced on his knees as he tries to get his breath back, “in the seven deserts was  _ that _ ?”

“They’re called Heartless.” Kairi answers, from where she’s similarly positioned. The two of them, plus Vincent and Zack, had chased the Heartless out of the city and into the desert before defeating it, and she’s not quite sure how to get back. The desert is  _ huge _ and it’s getting dark. “We should head back, the Princ- um, my friends will worry.”

Aladdin looks at her with huge eyes. The monkey on his shoulder is wearing a similarly shocked expression. “Are you telling me, that was the  _ Princess Jasmine  _ in the market?”

“Uhhhhhh, no?” Kairi tries, and ignores Vincent’s disproving sigh in the background.

“Gosh, wow, that’s... that’s... wow, she was, so pretty, you know, and to think she’s a princess...” Aladdin says, and they start across the desert.

* * *

_ This _ , Vincent says disapprovingly as the giant tiger made out of sand appears,  _ is not the palace. _

_ I told you we should have gone West, _ Zack adds, already bouncing up to the entrance,  _ But hey, look at this cool cave! _

For reasons Vincent is afterwards never quite clear on, they go look at the cave. It is, indeed, quite cool, until it starts falling in around their ears. And the genie sure is, well, sure is something.

* * *

“Splendid!” The Sultan claps, and Kairi tries very hard not to roll her eyes from where she’s taken up her position at Jasmine’s elbow. “Absolutely marvelous!”

“Is that the boy from the market?” Jasmine whispers to Kairi.

“Yeah, I don’t know who he thinks he’s fooling,” Kairi whispers back, “But he wanted to see you again and I guess he figured this was the way to do it?”

The two of them watch as ‘Prince Ali’ offers the Sultan a ride around the throne room on his flying carpet. Jasmine smiles fondly. “It’s kind of adorable, isn’t it?”

* * *

_ Boy, this takes me back, _ Zack says, smashing his ghostly Buster sword into a Soldier’s face.  _ When it all falls apart, it does it with style! _

Kairi dodges another tornado sent at her by Jafar’s huge, glowing red form. “Oh, is that what you call this?”

_ I mean, if the shoe fits!  _ Says Zack, before getting punched in the face by the Genie, who babbles apologies as Jafar’s control of him yanks him back to the advisor’s side.  _ It’s cool, man, not your fault. _

“We should have put his staff in jello.” Kairi regrets, and then runs over to Cloud to convince him to throw her at Jafar. Hey, it worked for the ice titan....

* * *

“Well,” says Jasmine, hands on her hips in the rubble of the palace. “This has been an exciting day. I can’t believe Jafar was summoning Heartless into Agrabah – wanting to rule with no care for anyone who would have been hurt!”

She shudders, and Cloud awkwardly pats her on the shoulder. His skirt, which caught fire when he was a little too close to the lava in the fight, is pretty ruined, but other than that none of them were seriously hurt. He’s going to take his wins where he can get them.

Kairi is busy trying to talk Genie into giving her the scrapped remains of his cuffs. Genie wants to fling them into the lava pit that’s still bubbling away where Jafar left it – now that he’s freed, he wants no reminders – but Kairi seems to think she can make some kind of magic item out of them and at this point Cloud has learned not to question the kid on these things.

“Actually, there’s a thought,” says Aladdin, a worried frown on his face. “Now that Jafar’s imprisoned in his own lamp, are the Heartless going to keep showing up?”

_ I hope not,  _ Vincent says, also frowning,  _ We should be getting a move on, and a Keyblade really is the most effective thing for getting rid of them... _

“Did someone say  _ Keyblade? _ ” Genie demands, swirling up to them. “Well, why are we even worrying about it? Just seal Agrabah’s keyhole and it’ll all be good to go. I mean, I haven’t taken a good look at the World Barrier in a few thousand years, what with being stuck in a lamp and all, but probably it all works the same.”

“Seal the keyhole?” Kairi asks, dubiously, and looks down to find that Breaking Tempest has appeared in her hand without her consciously summoning it. “Huh...”

She closes her eyes, concentrating, and Cloud can feel the hairs on the back of his neck raise as power swirls around her, focusing on the point of the Keyblade. She aims it out into the heart of the desert, and a glowing Keyhole appears. Light shoots from Kairi’s Keyblade to the Keyhole, and the click of a lock reverberates within Cloud’s bones.

“Yeah, just like that.” Genie says, slapping Kairi companionably on the back. “Now, let’s get this place cleaned up!”

* * *

“I’ll miss you,” Kairi tells Jasmine, giving her a hug.

“Me too,” Jasmine agrees, “I wish you didn’t have to go, but I hope you find your friends.”

“Wait, how are we leaving?” Kairi asks suddenly, straightening and looking at Cloud with a little bit of panic in her eyes.

He shrugs. Genie teleports over from where he’d been talking to Aladdin and the Sultan, appearing between the two of them and hanging off of their shoulders companionably. “No problem-o, pals! I’ve been meaning to take a vacation, either somewhere with less sand or somewhere with sand that comes in  _ relaxing beach _ form, y’know? Ah, but I can totally drop you off on the way! How about it?”

Kairi smiles at him. “That’d be awesome. Thanks Genie!”


	13. Sora: Neverland

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Sora uses magic a lot, and learns to fly. Again.

**When You Leave the World Behind**

Two days so far. Two days of forge work, making sure that everything he’d built in Camelot was usable, and building in Materia linkages, pre-selecting spare Materia sitting around that could be slotted in for Riku and Kairi’s gear. Improvements to his lance, reworking the blade with a more complex edge, marrying spines with the main blade to provide leverage towards foes, and to allow for wider use of spells. More than that though, it was two days of being _bored_ out of his skull. Donald and Goofy had a working gummi ship, _kup_ , Cid had at least five ready at any given time in case there needed to be a larger mobilization to rescue people, but being stuck in Traverse Town… For the first time, it feels restricting. Like even across the myriad of alleyways and rooftops of the town he’d grown up in, the ever growing population of refugees and inhabitants... Traverse Town feels empty. Donald and Goofy’s presence certainly make things at least interesting, friendly as they are, but for all the time he’d been stuck on Camelot, Arthur and Guenevere had helped replicate the calming presence of Riku and Kairi well enough that the feeling of loss hadn’t quite had time to set in fully. Now, back home at last, it’s back. And it hurts.

As he finishes the compression spell on the last piece of armor, Sora places it with the rest of the armor and accessories, safely inside his bag. He checks the ones he’s wearing as well, finds comfort in the feeling of mythril and Materia. The rings mostly improve resistance to the darkness, while the armlet will help with his magic output. The bracers fit nicely, hardened leather imprinted with the basic barrier spellform, made to ease the casting requirement on the wearer. Having a full run of Materia again after Camelot feels good, and opens up more complex spell combinations. One of the interesting things they’d figured out in Camelot had been how to use Materia in connection with, or just alongside of Magic. And that opened up a ton of options. The idea of a time frozen spell block filled with just about every Materia skill he could cast keeps itching in Sora’s head. He hefts his lance up, matching it to the mounting point under his coat. Cid had engineered the latching system years ago to deal with one of the others having a gigantic sword that he constantly carried around, but it keeps proving it’s worth. A quick flip of a latch, and Sora’s out the window, onto the rooftop, and closing the window behind him. If Cid wouldn’t let him go find the other two on his own, fine. Probably shouldn’t have taught them to hotwire a gummi ship then.

* * *

Of all the people he thought he would run into on the way to the shipyard, it definitely wasn’t Donald and Goofy. Between the tight spaces between buildings, and some shapeshifting and aero spells, the rooftops are almost easier to traverse than the roads and alleys. The duck and dog came into view a few blocks back, walking towards the shipyard, Donald grumbling about something.

“... No sign of the King, no sign of any keys, and nobody who could even help us! _Ragafraga_ …”

The shipyard is just ahead. Cid’s ships are pretty obvious, all similar design lines with larger than average passenger capacity, but one ship stands out as being dissimilar enough that it has to be Donald and Goofy’s. It’s worth a shot at least. Sora drops off the rooftop, bouncing off an overhang to land safely.

“Hey, you guys! You need a pilot?”

“Sora! Say, didn’t Cid say for that you were gonna go together? I guess we could use a-”

“ _Goofy…_ We don’t have time for this, lets go!”

“Aw come on Donald, he just wants to search for his friends. Let’s help a feller out-”

“No! We don’t need a pilot! Come on Goofy, we gotta find the King! We don’t have any space for someone else!”

Fair enough. It’s not as if they had any particular reason to take him with them anyways. Shrugging, Sora moves to begin the process of hotwiring the smallest of Cid’s ships, big enough for four or five people, but definitely enough to get the others back. The roar of engines gets his attention, turning to see their ship beginning to take off. Though… Wow, they really needed a better pilot, Riku had smoother takeoffs, and they had always hated learning how to do that. The muffled sounds of Donald verbally berating the controls is only offset by the sputtering and flaring of the control engines, grinding on Sora’s ears. To _kup_ with it, if they wanted him off their ship he’d come back down, but this-

In a flare of light, Sora vanishes from where he stood, the only sign of his presence footprints in front of an access panel.

* * *

-this was just ridiculous, it’s easier to do the takeoff himself. Lightly shoving Donald out of the way, he takes the controls, engines evening out, as the soft rumble of the ship’s systems provides a comforting feeling of home. Ignoring the squawking behind him, and Goofy’s chuckle and light pat of welcoming on his shoulder, he pushes forward, engaging the main engine, clearing Traverse Town’s Wall with smooth ease, and they’re away, flying smoother than a dog and a duck had in a long while.

* * *

The space between Worlds can be an interesting thing to travel through. Depending on how you travel, the time it takes to reach another world could be as short as a few minutes or hours, or as long as a couple of days to a week or more. Camelot to Traverse Town had taken what felt like an hour, zipping through the warp of space, but the current trip has taken all night, and the exact coordinates of the World they’re looking for aren’t included in the guide book. Seriously, second star to the right, and straight on till morning? There isn’t even proper time in the space between, and the easiest way to find the time was to use the last World’s relative time. At least it was almost morning. Donald and Goofy had taken the first two watches, leaving Sora awake as the ship’s computer gives a light ding, and the light tone in the cabin changes, replicating as best as the lights can a reasonably day-ish environment.

A yawn from the bunks behind him draws attention, as Goofy wanders into the main cabin, practiced hands setting up a coffee machine, and takes a seat at the flip-up table, and eating a quick breakfast. The coffee is barely done when Donald stumbles in, eyes still mostly closed against the light of the cabin, and grasping blindly towards the smell of coffee. A mug quickly finds its way to his hand, getting a thankful mutter, before he fills the mug, and downs it rapidly, despite the heat. Donald slumps down at the table, and slowly begins to perk up with the rush of caffeine.

“So, where are we anyways? Still the middle of nowhere?” The duck speaks up, sleepy eyes steadily becoming more aware.

“Yea, looks like those instructions weren’t quite enough. What’s the World called?”

“Never-WACK!” Goofy barely catches Donald as he gets thrown out of his chair, as the automated straps react too slow to catch Donald but manage to catch Goofy, keeping them both safe while the ship jinks and spins. Sora’s hands practically fly across the controls, neatly dodging between what look like - Cannon shots? Out here? He swings the tail around to drift past another round, their assailant comes into view.

“Pirates? In _space_?”

“Sora, look behind them! I’d bet that there’s Neverland!” Goofy clears the kitchen, reaching the command console as Donald straps himself into the gunner’s seat, grumbling rapidly turning into exclamatory anger, the guns blasting out towards the full on _Pirate Ship_ in front of them. The closer they get to the ship, the more the World begins to assert itself, revealing their environment, zipping low and close to the crystal clear water that surrounds a distant island. Where most Worlds are fairly close cut, not being much more than their physical space, this one seems to reach out into the rest of the surrounding area, ocean stretching on into the visible distance. It’s almost like flying into a dream, a thin barrier between World and Space, smoothly easing between one into the other.

Regardless of the smoothness of the transition, what had been a freeform dogfight has quickly turned into a careful game of dodging, blasting cannonballs out of the sky, and trying to find a hiding place large enough to conceal the gummi ship. The appearance of a massive, skull-like island proves to be the answer Sora is looking for, breaking line of sight with the ship behind some of the rocky crags nearby, before reversing hard, dashing back towards the island, and setting down neatly in the water behind it. Between Donald and Sora, enough Illusions are cast that if you look hard enough, you get a headache. A rubber dinghy is brought out of a compartment, inflated, and the trio are away, paddling towards the only area of life they can see: The Pirate Ship.

* * *

For a ship that had been firing off full barrages of cannonballs not an hour earlier, the interior is remarkably empty. Full of small Heartless, but remarkably empty. Clearing the main hold reveals a bevy of doors to choose from. Before the trio can choose which door to enter, a voice blares through the deck above.

“SMEE! Blast it, where are you! SMEE! WHERE ARE THOSE ACCURSED HEARTLESS!”

“Sir! There’s some disturbance down below! But er… Sir, there’s somethin’ you out to see! I’ve caught that Fairy you asked for, sir.”

“Oho, little Ms. Tinkerbell, eh? Well then. To me cabin then, and quick about it! We’ll find the location of Peter Pan’s hideout at last.” The footsteps fade out, leaving Donald and Goofy staring at each other in shock, Sora’s face growing sharp. The warble of Heartless grows again, shadows slinking into the hold. Looks like there was more fighting to do first.

* * *

As the last Heartless fades away, Sora leans into his staff, taking the weight off for a moment. The interior of the ship had been almost maze like, some doors locked, holes through an ill-repaired mesh floor… Navigating all that would have been even more of a pain if it weren’t for the ability to become a squirrel or other small creature to get through the small holes to open doors. The protega chain they’d found in one of the chests had been a nice find though, now looped between two parts of his belt. The short break is interrupted when the door to the cabin slams open, and a man in a vibrant red coat, fine white cravat, and a tremendous hat topped with a glorious plume steps forth, mustache twitching at the sight of these _interlopers_ on his ship.

“SMEE! GET OUT HERE!” A muffled cry is heard in the cabin, before a squat man in a striped blue shirt makes his way out. “Smee… Why, pray tell, are these land-lubbers on my ship?”

“Hm? Oh! C-Captain! There’s intruders on the ship captain!”

“Why Smee, you’ve NOTICED! Blast it all, take care of them! Ms. Tinkerbell and I have a little appointment on the Island.”

“B-B-But sir, I-”

“Use the Heartless, you lily-livered nincompoop!” With a rasp of his hook against the ship’s railing, (and what a sight that was, a proper hook in place of his hand), a miniature version of a pirate ship warbles into reality, twitching and jerking, the head of a Heartless visible aboard it. Goofy rushes to block the first strike, throwing off the cannonball that had been flying towards Donald. In the corner of his eye, Sora spots the Captain and Smee making their getaway, lowering one of the ship’s dinghys, a small glowing lantern caught in the hook of the Captain, flickering softly - Wait, it moved? They said they caught a Fairy, but- Oh. Oh _kup_. He ducks behind Goofy, building up a stop array, and pours in every attack skill he can afford the magic for. The glow of the thing is almost painful, but it’s still frozen and ready to go. The battleship is high above now, dropping shadows down on them, but it’s close enough that he shouldn’t need much more magic to get above it. Sora lets himself fall backwards, dropping-

* * *

-dropping, dropping, dropping fast, wind rushing by him as the teleport finishes, leaving him falling headfirst towards the battleship from above the masts, the spell blazing in his hand, reaching out-

The explosion is something to see. The barrier arrays flare as they come to life, the All Materia glowing as it engages the spell, spreading the barrier to Donald and Goofy as well, before the force of the explosion lifts him further again, almost to the top of the main mast. He reaches out, almost grasps it, misses- A hand catches his, hauling him up to the crow’s nest, a voice asking if he was okay, and which way Hook went, and before he even has a chance to thank them, they’re gone, only the faintest glittering of gold left behind in their wake. A glance out towards the island shows that trail continuing after the froth left by Smee’s energetic rowing.

“Hey Sora! You okay up there?”

“Yea, I’ll be down in a second… Just, gotta catch my breath first.” That many skills took the wind right out of him, and the barrier to resist them had almost gotten what he had left. Without that save… Sora slumps down against the mast. Best not think about what ifs, and focus on getting enough magic back to teleport back down to the deck. He’s not sure his arms have enough strength to climb down.

* * *

Their dinghy is right where they left it, Goofy paddling steadily while Donald and Sora compare notes on whoever it was who saved him. The best description they could come up with was that they wore green, and apparently flew. They seemed to at least be opposed to Hook, but how it all related was still missing. Back in the gummi ship, Sora rests, and Goofy quietly drives them towards the island, nestling into a hidden away bay. The next several hours are spent hacking away at the greenery, and making their way deeper into the island, losing and finding the trail of glittery gold several times before winding up in an open area, a large tree standing proudly in the center, soft light glowing from within several hollowed out limbs. 

* * *

The Lost Boys had always been a rowdy bunch, but they always got more so whenever someone they were friends with was in danger. And if it was Tink or Pete, then they became all the rowdier still. With Tinkerbell in danger, and their leader away to try and find her, the interior of Hangman’s Tree could best be described as a riot in progress. John and Michael Darling hid themselves behind their sister, Wendy doing her level best to try and calm the boys down, with little success. The arrival of a boy just a bit taller than she was, and a rather large dog and duck seems to catch the room’s attention better than any of her previous attempts, the Lost Boys practically freezing mid fight to stare at the newcomers.

“Er- Hi? Any of you guys know someone who wears green and can fly?”

The rapt attention of the Lost Boys devolves into shouts about Peter, Peter Pan, the Boss, the Head Honcho, the Cream of the Crop - The naming structures quickly devolve into a discussion of where Peter actually is, and why he had to go after that Mean Ol Captain Hook (Tinkerbell, the Fairy had been kidnapped just a few hours before, after all).

The boy introduces himself as Sora, and the two with him as Goofy and Donald, and that name is familiar, but where had she- The girl on the clocktower. Her friends, this was one of them!

“Excuse me, Sora, was it? I er, have something I need to tell you. From your friend, Kairi. She’s looking for you, traveling with some fellows who had some rather large swords. Do you know them?”

“Wait, did one of them have bright blond hair?” She nods, remember the remarkably spiky hair of the man who’d been standing near her. “Then, she’s found one of Cid’s old friends. She’s okay… Aw man, shoot, we just missed her, didn’t we. Gah, these things are gonna keep burning a hole in my bag aren’t they. Fine, we’ll catch up to her. Riku too. Are you guys gonna be okay here? We’re gonna go try and catch up to Peter, see if we can help him get Tinkerbell back safely.” Wendy nods again, still a little amazed at the sort of company these travelers held. Kairi had kept the company of three remarkably strong looking gentlemen, while Sora was traveling with some rather fantastical companions of his own. Wonders abound about this Riku person’s traveling companions.

* * *

Now, the bomb had been bad form. Kidnapping Tink, business as usual, setting a trap, twice a week. Setting a bomb? Oh now that was bad form. Pete is mad. Mad as he’s been in awhile. Swords are flying, clash of sparks, fancy footwork, all this was run of the mill. ‘Course, he didn’t usually swear on his honor about not flying, which admittedly made the fact that they were fighting on the highest yard of Hook’s ship more interesting. Tink had gotten free, but flown off towards the island again, something about going to get help, but the Lost Boys wouldn’t be much good in this fight, and Wendy and the Darlings wouldn’t know where to start. He had to wonder who it was she was going for. Maybe the Mermaids, they always were more interested in keeping him around and safe than letting Hook get away with things. At least Hook seemed to be enjoying this fight, someone in this mess ought to.

* * *

Tinkerbell makes it to them right as they reach the dinghy, and manages to get the nature of the life and death fight atop the pirate ship across well enough. It helps that Sora can read her lips, eyes trained from keeping eyes on Aerith’s lips to help supplement when her voice couldn’t be heard enough. Merlin had always mentioned that pixie dust was a powerful component, but flight hadn’t quite been what Sora expected when he had spoke of _how_ powerful it was. At least most of the basic principles are similar to swimming, just with more thinking about where you’re going than actual kicking and paddling. Dragging the floundering Donald and Goofy behind him, the four speed of into the darkening night sky, headed for the ship in the distance.

Sparks and steel are flying atop the main mast when they get there, gleaming edges catching the light of the dying sun. The climactic battle between two rivals, the fight to end an era… What better time to interrupt? Donald and Goofy take up positions, Donald near the ship’s wheel, and Goofy swooping in to take a hit that would have knocked Peter silly. 

“BLAST IT ALL! I’ll have your head today, _Peter Pan_ , you blithering blockhead. Heartless! Deal with these cursed interlopers!”

The shadows once more head Hook’s call, and the fight is on.

* * *

Stab-spin-bash, lance blade rips through shadows like scissors. Magic flares, Donald squawking in anger. Goofy flying around blocking shots, showing remarkable dexterity for a dog very much out of his element. Use the ability to fly in innovate ways, come on, _move_ . Can’t be hit, can’t afford to be hit, if he gets hit, it’ll throw the others off, and if they get thrown off, someone else will get hurt. Have to move faster. Mix teleporting short distances with flight, catch himself with flight and only use teleportation to bypass groups of enemies. The sheer amount of shadows and now battleships and their associated fliers seems to keep increasing every time Hook knocks on the mast, so the best thing to do is likely push him back far enough that he can’t do that. Move faster. Lance ready, find the opening, _there_.

He reaches around the man, catches Hook’s sword between the spines of the lance, twists to tear it free from his grasp, falling to the deck below. Carefully placed thwacks push Hook back, forward, straight into the waiting arms of Peter, the skull and crossbones at the ready to capture the pirate. The last of the heartless from past waves bursts, heart flying free into the night as Donald bashes it with his staff. The fight is over. Peter, it seems needs to get some manner of capitulation out of Hook, looking down at the arriving Lost Boys and Darling children. Something about being a codfish. The magic drain is starting to hit Sora, as his senses fade, not quite fainting, but certainly not ingesting information the way they’re supposed to. He lands near a tuckered out Donald and Goofy, leaning into the comforting shoulder Goofy offers. Donald holds out what looks like a mangled, but substantial hunk of metal, clearly once part of the main bow of one of the battleships, that had been giving even Goofy’s substantial defensive skills trouble. The thing was positively glowing with Tinkerbell’s pixie dust. Lucky shot with a fira apparently, and a gift from Tinkerbell for saving them. Neat. For now, he was just gonna take a nap. The last thing he notices before falling asleep is Goofy hefting him up, and carrying him back to the dinghy. And he falls into dreams, of blue skies, islands, and the sea.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> > Sora's Lance, still unnamed, still unfinished. The curved blade now sports wicked spikes that can be used to help trap enemy blades, or as spell origin points. The cloth wrappings have been swapped out for a lighter material.
> 
> So, turns out, without the Riku and Kairi plot, KH1 Neverland has... Not a lot. So lets go with something closer to the film, eh? Sorry for this one being late, work has begun for me and that threw me off. - L 


	14. Riku: NeverlaNd

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which there are a number of reunions, some more welcome than others.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay, folks, I sent this off to L before going to bed last night and then it seems he got caught up with some other obligations and/or forgot. Anyway, enjoy!

**All it Takes is Faith and Trust**

It’s the weirdest entry into a World Nanaki’s ever experienced. Usually, you fly towards a star, once you get close enough the World resolves itself into, well, a world. You fly around a bit, find an inconspicuous landing point, and fly on down.

This star, though, sort of...  _ ripples _ , and then the very texture of the time around the  _ Medium Sized Bronco  _ wrinkles and stretches. Riku keeps their hands steady on the console, and slowly everything resolves itself. Nanaki finds himself peering out at a lush green island, smoke rising up the far side. They’re flying over sparkling blue waters, punctuated by flashes of bright colors under the waves.

“Ah, will ye look a’ tha’ view!” Cait Sith says, stretching and moving on its own to lean against Nanaki’s side where he’s still trying to figure out when exactly they entered the World. Apparently they’re now firmly out of the Darklands and the little robot can exit emergency battery mode.

Riku’s slightly misty expression (which everyone is politely ignoring – kid’s probably just homesick, she’d mentioned growing up on an island which sounded similar to this one) is suddenly replaced by one of surprise, and Nanaki stops looking at the scenery to follow a pointing finger.

“Is that a gummi ship?”

* * *

Nearby Donald and Goofy’s gummi ship, Sora is messing around with the linkage on the bracer he made for Riku and loudly lamenting the fact that Goofy has forbidden him from using magic or heading on until his magic has had ‘time’ to ‘recover fully’ - he’s impatient, itching to move on. Kairi was here, but Riku’s still out there, somewhere, and he has to  _ know _ , to see with his own eyes that his friends are all right. That’s why waiting around Traverse Town just... wasn’t an option.

Tinkerbell floats over and inspects his work, landing on the bracer and pulling at the clasp.

“Yeah, I know,” Sora says in response to her criticism of the flaws in the design. “But the friend I made it for – they’ve been having some serious growth spurts, and it’s been a while and I just... didn’t want it to not fit them. But then I couldn’t find a good way to weld the, you see – yeah right there, the mythril just doesn’t want to bond with...”

Tinkerbell makes her way down the bracer to where Sora’s pointing and gestures emphatically, explaining an alternative welding method that uses pixie dust as solder, and Sora grins and quickly finds himself caught up in shop talk with the tiny tinker.

It’s actually fascinating – Tink has all sorts of strategies Sora’s never heard of, and he’s more than willing to take the effort to listen hard and focus on reading her lips for the bits he can’t catch – he’s always had good eyesight, and it’s only a little bit of strain to see something so small. Everyone in Traverse Town jokes that Sora’s got super-hearing for being able to hear Aerith without too much trouble but the truth is her whispers are usually pretty unintelligible to him and it’s about 75% lip reading, most of the time. He thinks she’s just... visually clearer, sharper to him. Kairi and Riku both say that she’s more of an impression, a blurry green figure radiating peace, but for Sora she’s there, details and all.

“And that really works with Thunder Shards? I thought they’d explode if you- ooooooh, yes, let’s try it!”

* * *

It  _ is  _ a gummi ship, although Riku doesn’t recognize the design as one of Cid’s, and the insignia of three circles carefully painted on the hull is also unfamiliar. Cait Sith’s ears perk up.

“Ah can hear somethin’ in the distance” It says, and then points off inland, away from the beach where they’ve parked nearby the strange gummi ship. “That’a way.”

“Everyone got their gear?” Riku asks, and the others nod. Tifa looks a little fond about it, but she lets her take lead and she appreciates it. It’s nice to be trusted. “Let’s go find them, then. Maybe they know something about Sora or Kairi.”

The four of them head off into the woods. It’s a short walk, even following Cait Sith’s inexact directions, and they only have to fight off three groups of Heartless, which are all pretty small. Nanaki can clearly hear the voices too, much sooner than Tifa and Riku do. As they approach what seems to be a clearing, Riku suddenly finds herself able to pick out voices conversing just ahead.

“-ra, I’m not sure that’s such a good idea...” someone says, and then comes a voice that Riku would know unconscious and underwater, that she hasn’t heard in  _ months. _

“Hey, you never know until you try, right Goofy?”

She breaks out into a run without thinking about it, Tifa and Nanaki taking a moment to blink at her disappearing back before chasing after. Riku barrels into the clearing just in time to see her best friend cast a small fireball at a glowing piece of armor, casting with a lance of a design Riku’s never seen before.

“Sora?!” She asks, because yes it looks like Sora’s  _ right there _ but it would kinda just be Riku’s luck to be hallucinating this. Sora looks up, huge blue eyes growing even wider somehow, and yep that’s him, he’s there and Riku’s  _ frozen. _

“Riku!” Sora yells back, and suddenly she finds herself with an armful of tearful brunet and she’s maybe also crying and it’s very gross. But as they cling to each other and snuffle into each others shoulders for a long moment, something that’s been tense and painful ever since they were separated starts to ease in Riku.

“ _ You’re ok, kupo, thank goodness, I was so worried!”  _ Sora exlaims in Mooglish, pulling back a little to look her in the eye.

“You  _ were worried, kupo?”  _ Riku demands,  _ “Idiot, I spent the whole time afraid that witch killed you both!” _

“ _ No, she- she disappeared you, and took Kairi, and then I was stuck there for  _ ages,  _ and met Merlin, who’s this great wizard and used to live in Traverse Town and he taught me a bunch of stuff and also so did Mim I guess even though she’s  _ so  _ mean, Riku, just the worst, and I forged this lance, and then-” _

“ _ Slow down, Sora. It’s ok, we found each other, and now we can find Kairi.” _ Riku says soothingly, not letting go of Sora as she guides them to sit on a convenient nearby log.  _ “How’d you find a gummi ship, anyway?” _

Sora’s natural chattiness kicks in, just as Riku was hoping for, and he starts explaining how he got back to Traverse Town and then skipped out again when Cid was not quite as willing to go haring off after her and Kairi without a more solid plan. Riku nods along, occasionally asking another question or two – because as long as Sora’s talking about his own journey, he won’t have time to ask ‘and where were you?’

* * *

Tifa got a brief and unpleasant shot of adrenaline to the system when Riku takes off running like a Black Bat out of Hel, and now that she and the others have caught up to the kid only to find her hugging the life out of a similarly-aged brown-haired kid and babbling in Mooglish her heart is still kind of racing.

“Do you think that one’s Sora or Kairi?” Nanaki asks curiously, tilting his head as if he has any hope of understanding the frantic stream of  _ kupos _ if he just listens harder.

“That’s Sora, hyuk, an’ I take it the other one’s Riku?” A tall dog dressed in green says. He has a shield slung over his back with the same emblem that was on the gummi ship on the beach. “Name’s Goofy, by the way, an’ this is my pal Donald!”

Tifa shakes the offered hand. “I’m Tifa, this is Nanaki and that’s Cait Sith. And yes, that’s Riku over there.”

“Nice ta meet’cha!” Goofy says, and gently steps on his companion’s bare, webbed foot until Donald stops glaring suspiciously at Nanaki and mumbles a similar sentiment. “Gawrsh, sure do wish we could understand what they were sayin’ - Sora drops a few words in every so often, and of course ya hear the Moogles chattin’ with each other and all...”

“It’s definitely different,” Tifa agrees. “So, what brings you all here?”

Goofy smiles, his eyes crinkling kindly at the corners. “Why, lookin’ for friends, of course! And it seems ta be goin’ pretty well, too.”

At this point, the small object that Sora had thrown a fireball at earlier stops smoking and actively catches on fire. Donald, who’s the closest, lets out a “whaa” of alarm and jumps out of the way. Goofy, on the other hand, just calmly drops his shield over it to smother the flames.

* * *

After a while, Sora and Riku can finally be separated – well, not literally, they’re still holding hands, but they’ve calmed down enough that they’re no longer speaking exclusively in frantic Mooglish and aren’t desperately clinging to each other – and they all sit down around the clearing by the Hangman’s Tree to get a better picture of what’s going on.

Wendy has never been so confused in her life, and she recently sewed a boy’s shadow back onto his feet, but she can’t say it isn’t all fascinating.

Riku, Kairi’s last friend, has proven to have companions just as interesting as the other two. She (as Sora had introduced his friend, and Wendy wonders if it was just where the trio was from, that girls wore short pants so casually) travels with an intimidatingly-strong woman with pin-straight black hair, a giant talking creature that seems similar to the lion she saw in the zoo once, and and a more-normal seeming black and white cat which  _ also  _ talks. With an accent.

Peter is taking this collection of strangers in his hideout – well, near his hideout, they don’t all fit – with surprisingly good grace. Tinkerbell, too, has made friends with Sora in a way that Wendy certainly hasn’t managed, and seems willing to put up with the rest of them as a result.

“So,” Sora finishes summarizing their recent adventures, “we defeated Captain Hook, who we think was pulling the Heartless into Neverland. And maybe also into London, which is the- the connected World, I guess? Where Wendy and her brothers come from, and met Kairi. And then Tinkerbell and I were trying to weld some stuff with pixie dust-”

“You what?” Riku interrupts, and gently slaps her friend upside the head. “Sora, that’s super dangerous! You could have burnt the whole island down!”

“Didn’t, though!” Sora sticks his tongue out at her. Tinkerbell, hovering next to his head, does the same.

“ _ Anyway,” _ Nanaki, the large feline, interrupts as the two of them start to playfully shove at one another, “the Heartless are still in Neverland. We fought some on our way here – and they weren’t so bad, but they also didn’t seem like the last stragglers left after this Hook was defeated.”

“Hey, that is weird,” Peter agrees. “He really skedaddled this time, him and Smee aren’t gonna bother anyone for a while! But the Heartless should have left too-”

Tinkerbell flies over to Peter and whispers in his ear. The strange boy frowns, and then his eyes widen in something like understanding. “Oh! Tink says that mean old Captain Hook musta opened the Keyhole for this World. We gotta get that closed, or the Heartless will keep getting in!”

“Keyhole?” asks Sora.

“Closed?” asks Riku.

“ _ This  _ World?” asks Wendy, and feels privately that her question is perhaps the most relevant even if no one else seems alarmed at that part of Peter’s little speech.

“Yep, every World’s got one!” says Peter, nodding his head authoritatively as if this answers any of their questions.

“Wha! A  _ Key _ – Goofy, that’s it! When his majesty was tellin’ us to follow the  _ keys _ -” Donald babbles in excitement, leaping up to pace around.

Goofy’s eyes widen, and he finishes Donald’s thought out loud. “He musta meant Keyblades! But I thought all the ones accounted for were, ya know, on the Front Lines an’ all?”

Tifa is shaking her head. “Not all of them, no.”

* * *

Everyone is looking at her expectantly, and Riku finds herself suddenly shy. Focusing just on Sora, because that’s so much less overwhelming, she holds out her hand and summons Guiding Star. Her Keyblade appears in her hand, its weight comforting.

Sora’ eyes light up. “Riku that’s the coolest thing  _ ever _ have you always been able to do that why didn’t you tell us-”

And just like that, she’s no longer so self-conscious. Riku laughs

“Dummy, of course I’d have told you. Both of you. This is new, I’m still, y’know, learning.”

“She’s coming along great, don’t let her fool you,” Tifa says around a grin, and ruffles Riku’s hair up the best she can, given that it’s tied up in a bun still. Riku blushes.

“I still don’t know how to close a Keyhole, though,” she points out, “or where to find it.”

Tinkerbell is suddenly  _ directly  _ in her face and Riku startles. She says something, and it sounds like bells – which Riku supposes is how she got her name – and she thinks it’s supposed to be reassuring but she just can’t quite make any of it out.

“I’m sorry,” she says, “I didn’t hear.”

Tink crosses her arms and rolls her eyes with an exagerated motion that Riku can pick out fairly easily. She taps her on the nose once, and then goes over to Sora instead.

“Um, Tink says she can show us. Or well, not all of us, it’s kind of a secret? But Riku’s okay, Neverland like, recognizes her.”

“Uh, okay? Can Sora come too?” Riku asks, unwilling to leave her friend behind so soon after being reunited.

He thinks the set of Tinkerbell’s shoulders is approving as the little pixie nods her agreement.

* * *

“So, Tifa sent the puppies back with Gepetto,” Riku says while they’re on their way back from the giant island shaped like a skull that had hidden Neverland’s Keyhole, “who are Donald and Goofy looking for?”

Sora, who’s still sulking about having landed  _ right next  _ to the Keyhole when first arriving in Neverland and not having noticed anything at all about the place until Tinkerbell started miming for Riku to use her Keyblade, takes a moment to respond.

“Their friend – uh, king? I think he’s definitely also their friend, though – Mickey has been missing from the Front Lines for a couple months now and they got a letter telling them not to worry about him but to, well, follow the keys.”

Riku frowns. “That’s... weird.”

“Yeah. Also, y’know, Heartless popping up at much higher rates than usual in places that aren’t anywhere  _ close  _ to the Boundary...” Sora’s frowning too, now. “Do you think something’s happening? Something big?”

_ Yes, and it might be me... _ Riku finds herself thinking, and she shivers despite the island heat of Neverland. “I hope not. But maybe we should look into it. Find this king, and all.”

As they near the clearing, a familiar sinister green light flares. Without even a glance at each other, perfectly in sync, they both break into a run. They arrive at what feels like the tail end of a rant from the tall witch who had taken Kairi from them.

“-and then you’re not even from the right part of this World to  _ be _ its Princess, why, I will be having  _ words _ with Mr. Hook, if he has indeed deceived me so... intentionally.” She’s looming over Wendy, who is calmly staring her down, chin stubbornly up in the face of the threat. Riku can just about make out the assorted adults, siblings, and Lost Boys on the other side of a glowing force barrier.

“Hey you!” Sora yells, pulling his lance off his back and skidding to a halt in the clearing. “Where’s Kairi?”

Riku hurriedly summons Guiding Star and positions herself in front of her friend, ready to take whatever’s about to get flung their way.

“You better not have hurt her,” she snarls, as the witch turns around.

“Oh,” she says, her mouth twisted into a sneer as if she’s just smelled something unpleasant as she catches sight of them. “It’s you two again. And not even with a Princess this time.”

“Princess?” Sora asks, sounding as confused as Riku feels.

* * *

Maleficient is prepared to roll her eyes and open a Dark Corridor at the (re)appearance of the brats. She’s so sick of wasting her time on errands, that was what minions were  _ for  _ except they were all incompetent for all but the more basic tasks of seeding Worlds with Heartless,  _ apparently. _

But the silver-haired one has a Keyblade and Maleficient has been bad at human ages for a long time, but this one seems young to be a weilder. And now that she’s paying enough attention, there’s something there, behind those bright teal eyes...

“What did you do with Kairi?” The child demands, out loud.

_ So, you’re after the Princesses of Heart?  _ Something else demands, silently, and Maleficient senses the seed of a truly great Darkness in the child’s heart.

“Yes,” she says, and holds out a hand invitingly. The boy with the lance takes a suspicious step back, but the wielder steps forward without seeming to realize what they’re doing. A tendril of Darkness, invisible in the Light of the World they stand on, snakes forward, and she barely even has to tug before she’s watching that something else bloom behind the child’s eyes, fully realized.

Maleficient smiles cruely as the child turns back towards the boy, summoning a Dark Corridor and moves on to her next – ugh – errand. She’s not sure what lurks in the wielder’s heart but whatever it is...

It owes her a favor now.

* * *

_ Just let go, it can all be so easy, you haven’t got the power to do it on your own anyway. _

It’s okay, Riku thinks, as she stops fighting for the first time in what feels like forever. It’s okay, because Sora is here. She doesn’t have to be strong for her friends, she can just...

_ let go _ .

* * *

“Riku?” Sora asks, worried, as the witch vanishes into a swirl of Darkness and his friend lets it happen. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing’s wrong, Sora.” Riku says, Keyblade still drawn but resting down by her side. She stretches a hand out towards him, an echo of the witch’s motion earlier. “C’mon, we should go find Kairi.”

Normally, Sora would be all for this plan. Find Riku, find Kairi, go home. That’s been the mantra keeping him going for  _ months _ on Camelot and then driving him back out into the stars when he found home empty of his friends, his family.

But something flickers around Riku’s smile, something cruel and so totally unlike his friend that Sora hesitates.

“What? Don’t you care? Whatever, I can find her on my own.” Riku snarls, and that cinches it.

Riku is competitive. Stubborn, and a perfectionist. Riku loves competing with Sora - when they were little, they were forever challenging each other to races. But Riku would never be needlessly mean – and Riku certainly wouldn’t accuse Sora of not caring about either of them.

Something’s using Riku’s face, and voice, and it’s  _ not Riku _ .

Sora panics, all he has on him is his lance and even if Riku isn’t piloting right now, well, it’s still Riku’s body and Riku’s probably in there, right? So he does the first thing that comes to mind, and tackles the thing to the ground.

Riku’s head collides sharply with the hard earth, and Sora watches with horrified fascination as what looks like a light film of shadow, swirling like ink, clears away from Riku’s eyes.

“Sora?” Riku asks, confused, and then adds, “what’s going on,  _ kupo? _ ”

Sora can’t help it. He starts crying again.

* * *

The barrier goes down as the witch vanishes, and it’s not immediately apparent that anything is wrong to Tifa’s eyes before Sora tackles Riku to the ground and then bursts into tears. She and Goofy exchange worried glances, and then split up – Goofy to comfort a shaking Wendy and Tifa to deal with Cid’s kids. It’s nice to have another responsible adult with opposable thumbs around.

After some confusion conversation, with Sora or Peter translating for Tink and occasional asides in Mooglish, the story comes out.

The witch’s name is Maleficient, and she’s an evil Fairy. Tinkerbell knows this because Tinkerbell is a pixie on the side of good, and it’s important to keep up at least a little with what your species’ evil cousins are doing at any given time. Donald and Goofy know this because, apparently, she’s meddled in their World’s affairs in the past. Cait Sith knows this because of a file on its hard drive that it only regained access to after leaving the Darklands.

The princess thing is really throwing everyone off. Sora and Riku explain that Maleficient had kidnapped Kairi, but this is the first time either of them have heard anything about that kidnapping being down to Kairi being a  _ princess _ , which she definitely isn’t. Traverse Town doesn’t even have a mayor, much less a royal family, and the Islands the three of them had lived on before were governed by an elected council.

“It’s weird, though,” Riku says, frowning, “Now that I’m thinking about it, I guess Kairi and Wendy kind of feel similar. Like... welcoming and bright. I guess maybe that’s why Maleficient came to uh, investigate Wendy too?”

Sora looks at Riku’s pensive expression and pokes her shoulder in a way that Tifa is startled to find familiar. It’s the same little ‘go-on’ that Cid has always  _ loved  _ to administer to the more reticent members of their group (mostly Cloud – Vincent liked to pretend to be too far above it to react, and that apparently took a lot of the fun out). “Whatcha thinkin’,  _ kupo? _ ”

“Well, when we got separated, I met another girl – Alice – who... who felt the same way. And then, um, that World, well, fell, and I couldn’t find her – maybe Maleficient got her, too?”

Tinkerbell’s eyes widen all of the sudden, and she loops around in the air, trailing pixie dust in the shape of a- heart?

“Their hearts are important?” Sora asks the pixie, who nods rapidly. “Huh... I wonder, if Hook was in league with her, maybe that’s where he got the Heartless from?”

“We should find out,” Riku says, and Sora frowns.

No one’s quite sure what happened with Riku, including Riku – and it’s clearly freaking the kid out. Between Donald, Peter, Tinkerbell, and Nanaki the theories are all upsetting, so Tifa doesn’t blame her at all. She remembers Riku staring intently at an empty mirror and reaching out a hand towards it, and shivers.

“We should, but maybe, um. Riku, maybe you shouldn’t be near her again? Just in case.”

Tinkerbell shakes her head emphatically at the suggestion that maybe whatever happened to Riku was entirely externally-imposed by Maleficient, and quickly explains something to Peter, who dutifully translates.

“Tink says you’re right, Sora, but that’s not gonna cut it entirely and Riku needs to go see someone before facing her again, because Riku’s aura is – what? Tink, that doesn’t make any- I’m not repeating that. Riku’s aura is a mess.”

Sora nods, tapping his fist lightly against his palm decisively. “Alright, I’ll try and find more about this princess stuff. And check in on Pongo and Perdita, someone said something about puppies earlier, I think,  _ man  _ this day has gone on forever. Riku, you go see this person and try to find Kairi. You said you could like, feel her and Wendy and Alice? Maybe you’ll have better luck searching than me.”


	15. Kairi: Halloween Town

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which there is a spooky, scary skeleton, and Kairi obtains some extra pockets.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HAPPY HALLOWEEN! :D

**Everybody's Waiting for the Next Surprise**

  
  


“So, pals,” Genie says, rubbing his hands together theatrically. “Where’ll it be?”

Vincent, Cloud, and Zack all look at Kairi expectantly, and she gets a bright, warm feeling in her chest when she realizes it’s because they trust her to call the shots. They’ve got her back, but it’s  _ her _ journey,  _ her _ friends they’re looking for, and she gets to pick where they go next. Her responsibility. It’s a nice feeling.

“Somewhere we can get gummi blocks,” She says, after thinking about it for a moment, “especially a cockpit gummi. Then we won’t be stuck.”

“No problem-o!” Genie snaps his fingers, and the scenery kind of  _ lurches _ sharply to the left before settling down.

The hot sands and bright white buildings of Agrabah are completely gone, replaced by a dim forest clearing full of trees with bare, twisting branches. The ground is similarly bare, rich-smelling dirt covered in a layer of loam and rotting leaves. A sliver of a crescent moon looms large in the clear night sky visible through the trees. Something howls in the distance.

“Woah,” Kairi breathes out, and it’s chilly enough that she can see her breath.

“Ah! Before I forget, since you guys don’t have a gummi ship to magic you up some disguises...” Genie strokes his beard consideringly and looks critically at them before snapping his fingers again. “There, that should help ya blend in!”

Kairi looks down to find that her favorite, pocket-covered shorts have become a pair of ragged, black overalls over a grey-and-red flannel shirt, and her sneakers are now seemingly-oversized rubber boots. When she takes an experimental step, though, they seem to fit perfectly.

Something feels  _ weird _ , though, and when she holds her hands up to her face and sees that they seem to have become some kind of burlap mittens, the straw poking out of the knee of her overalls suddenly makes sense. “Am I a scarecrow,  _ kupo _ ? What  _ is  _ this place?”

“Halloween Town, kiddo! There’s usually all kindsa weird stuff around here, I’m sure you’ll be able to find some gummi blocks.” Genie grins at her, and gives her a firm handshake. When he lets go, she opens her hand (mitten?) to find that he’s left a gleaming bronze charm with an orange gem inset behind. “Listen, take this – you get into trouble, give me a call, yeah?”

Kairi clips the charm carefully to her belt, and nods seriously. She’s opening her mouth to thank him, when she’s interrupted by Cloud’s strangled growl.

“ _ Why _ do I have a tail?” The blond demands, scowling. It’s a rather more impressive scowl than usual, since Cloud’s eyebrows seem extra scary and he’s definitely got some fangs going on there. Vincent’s cape flutters around him, ragged and dramatic. However, he’s  _ also  _ got furry wolf ears and his hands, while tipped with wicked-looking claws, are looking pretty paw-like.

Genie shoots the lot of them finger guns. “And that’s my cue! Buh-bye!”

In a flash of glitter and sparks, he’s gone, and they’re left in the spooky forest.

_Well_ , says Vincent, who – like Zack - doesn’t look any different from normal, except for maybe being a little more see-through, _there seems to be a path that way, which I suggest we follow._

“ _ Kupo, _ sounds like a plan!” Kairi says, and – after adjusting the floppy brim of her hat so she can see clearly – starts forward, trailing the occasional little piece of straw as she goes.

* * *

The path leads them to a graveyard, which is full of frankly enormous headstones. Vincent examines the closest one, intrigued by the seemingly slapdash approach to maintenance that seems to be the standard here. There are clumps of weeds, but the bulk of the area is carefully-cleared bare earth; and although the stones themselves look quite precarious and in some cases are crumbling at the edges, the carvings aren’t at all worn down.

_ Hey look! Is that a ghost dog? _ Zack asks brightly, drawing Vincent’s attention. There does indeed seem to be a ghost dog, edges fluttering in a non-existent breeze at it peers at them from around the corner of a headstone.  _ Awwww, look at its sweet little nose. Hey, Vince, I wonder if we can pet it? _

_ I have no idea- _ Vincent starts to say, but is interrupted by a large number of Heartless bursting out of the graves. They look like mostly Soldiers, which seem a little dimmer overall, and curlier at the edges than normal, and a gangly type covered in bandages Vincent hasn’t seen before.

Either way, the four of them make short work of the crowd of them, and when the chaos has calmed a little, the ghost dog is still there.

_ Hey buddy, _ Zack says, crouching down and offering a hand to it.  _ What’s up? _

The dog ignores it, bypassing Zack entirely to zip around Vincent’s ankles where they hover about a foot off the ground. The dog circles him before zooming off to hover at the gate on the other side of the graveyard, barking. When no one moves, it comes back over and repeats the process.

“I think it wants us to follow it,  _ kupo _ ,” Kairi says, already heading off after the dog. Vincent exchanges a look with Cloud, sighs, and follows.

What the dog apparently wants them to find is a creepy looking box, sitting off to the side of the path that leads up to the towering, spiked gates of what must be the main town that Genie had mentioned before vanishing. The box is locked, but Kairi summons her keyblade and once she taps it on the lid it pops open to reveal...

“Awwww!” Kairi squeals, and Zack, hovering over her shoulder, lets out a delighted noise at the sight of three Dalmation puppies sleeping inside.

Vincent has to fight to keep the smile off of his face when Cloud starts to tell the two that it would be irresponsible for them to take the puppies with them only to be met with two impressively pouty faces, one of which is a thirteen-year-old girl who has her arms full of puppies.

Cloud, hero of the Planet, caves immediately, and the ghost dog continues to glide happily around everyone’s legs as they continue to the gates.

* * *

The town square gives Cloud the creeps, and that’s  _ without  _ accounting for the Heartless. The Heartless which... aren’t attacking. Or moving. He squints at the nearest Soldier suspiciously. It fails to even clatter threateningly in his direction.

Out of nowhere, music starts up some great piping organ-y thing full of drama, and the Heartless bob and spin rhythmically. It’s not actually in time to the music, but still:

“Are they dancing?” Cloud asks, hand hovering over the Buster’s hilt. Kairi, who’s got Tempest Breaker out already, relaxes her ready stance and nods.

A lanky figure appears on a balcony and jumps down to land neatly in front of the guillotine. The Heartless rattle a little as they all gesture towards the figure. It turns out to be a very tall skeleton in a pinstriped suit, who holds out his arms as if expecting applause.

Kairi and Zack oblige enthusiastically. Cloud, who is not yet ready to give up on what little dignity he has left, refrains.

The skeleton doesn’t seem very pleased with the whole thing, though, slumping dramatically and nudging a Soldier out of the way as he makes his way over. “Hullo there! Sorry about this, I was really hoping these would be scarier. Are you new? You’re a bit early for the Halloween Town Parade, I’m afraid, but that’s just as well as  _ clearly  _ these newcomers can’t learn the choreography!”

He arrives in front of their party and sticks out a hand, a large grin curling over his bony face. “I’m Jack, by the way! Jack Skellington.”

“I’m Kairi,  _ kupo,”  _ Kairi says, accepting the handshake. Jack is nearly twice as tall as her, and leans over courteously so that she doesn’t have to strain her neck looking up at him. “These are my friends Cloud, Zack, and Vincent. It’s nice to meet you.”

“You as well! My, what marvelously spooky company you’ve found us, Zero!” Jack gives the ghost dog a gentle pat, so Cloud supposes that’s one mystery solved. “A scarecrow, a wolfman, a  _ vampiric ghost –  _ how inspired! - and ah. Another ghost.”

Zack looks vaguely offended at how Jack’s enthusiasm clearly drops when describing him, but fortunately Vincent jumps in with a relevant question before they can all get sidetracked.  _ How did you get the Heartless to dance instead of mindlessly attacking people? _

“Heartless?” Jack asks, “Is that what they are? Ah, that’s the good Dr. Finkelstein’s work. Although, I must say, I’m not terribly impressed – they’re just, lacking something. Come, let’s go to his lab and troubleshoot! I’m sure this act can be rescued!”

* * *

“It’s just that, well, they’re not  _ scary _ , not really.” Jack explains earnestly, gesturing expansively. “There’s no passion, nothing to strike fear in anyone at all!”

“Hmmmmmm...” says Dr. Finkelstein “perhaps it’s because they’re lacking Hearts. If we gave them one, that should give them some passion.”

“Some zest! It’s not enough to be creepy if you haven’t got any  _ style!” _ Jack agrees. “Where do we get a Heart for them, then?”

Kairi’s tensing, mitten-hands flexing in preparation to summon her Keyblade, but Finkelstein just scoffs and says, “We’ll build one, of course. I just need a few spare parts...”

* * *

Somehow, they end up agreeing to help Jack find all the bits he needs, and they all head out to a  _ different  _ graveyard to carry out the scavenger hunt. Zero and the puppies stay in the lab for the time being, since there are some Heartless not under Jack’s weird spell lurking around and Kairi doesn’t want to know what would happen if she tried to dodge roll with a puppy in her front overalls pocket.

Kairi’s happy enough to help out. Jack is extremely fun to be around, his enthusiasm is completely catching, and she’s honestly curious to see if giving a Heartless an artificial Heart would help them, or at least keep them away from trying to get at actual Hearts.

The ghostly Heartless in the graveyard are pretty annoying, though. She has to make leaping swings at them to knock them to the ground in order to finish them off, and it’s kind of tiring. Also, she tears a sleeve, which turns out to be equivalent to tearing her arm. It doesn’t hurt, but she can feel it getting floppier as the fight continues and she loses straw.

Finally, all the Heartless have been cleared from the graveyard, and Jack’s girlfriend, Sally, and the Mayor of Halloween Town come out from where they’ve been hiding.

The mayor shakes Cloud and Kairi’s hands enthusiastically. “My my, awfully good of you to rescue us. As expected of friends of our very own Jack!”

_ No problem, we’re happy to help! _ Says Zack brightly, only for the Mayor’s face to flip around in a very literal way that makes Kairi a little nauseous to watch.

“What’s this? Why, I haven’t seen a ghost so frankly spook-less in  _ years _ !” The mayor scolds, and then his face flips around again to a manic smile as he gestures at Vincent. “Your friend, however,  _ gets it. _ Ghost  _ and _ vampire? The style! The panache! The  _ fear factor _ ! Simply inspired, simply inspired!”

Vincent nods, stoically, looking incredibly comfortable in the face of this rush of positive attention.

Sally, meanwhile, immediately zeros in on Kairi’s little stuffing problem, and flutters around scooping up as much straw as she can find before producing a needle and getting to work.

“Wow,” says Kairi, watching her make neat, even stitches, “you’re really good at that!”

Sally looks like she might blush if she had the functioning blood vessels necessary to accomplish such a task. Modestly, she replies, “Oh, well, you know, I get a lot of practice...”

“Still, thank you! It feels a lot better.” Kairi flexes her arm experimentally, and then strikes a body-builder pose in hopes of getting Sally to laugh.

It works. Sally has a delightful laugh, and as Kairi grins back, something occurs to her. “ _ Kupo! _ Sally, I’m like, made of fabric, right? Do you think I could just add pockets to myself  _ where ever I wanted? _ ”

“Hmmm...” Sally taps her chin, needle and thread still in her hand. “I don’t see why not, although you’d probably want to be careful about where you did it, so you can keep your balance and all.”

By the time Cloud and Jack wander over from where they’ve actually been doing the work of gathering the bits that Finkelstein wanted, Vincent is blushing fiercely and Kairi is happily stuffing some interesting moss into the pocket Sally has just finished adding to the side of her leg.

“This,” she tells Cloud very sincerely, “is the best World ever,  _ kupo. _ ”

* * *

They get back to the lab, covered in dark brown earth, and hand over all of the components Finkelstein asked for. The scientist immediately gets to work, and soon enough an overly-large, alarmingly-anatomical, ominously-green artificial Heart is on the table.

No one notices the cockroach in the corner, quietly watching, because when Jack throws the lever that should start the Heart up it explodes a little bit.

“No worries!” Jack says brightly, flapping a cloth to clear the smoke faster out of the open window. “We can try again tomorrow.”

* * *

It actually takes them a few days to finish the Heart, because Finkelstein decides that he needs a particular mushroom picked the night of a new moon to represent something-or-other, Cloud was not paying a huge amount of attention.

Once they’re back in the lab with the mushroom, the doctor finishes his repair of the artificial Heart. This time, when Jack throws the lever, it doesn’t explode. Instead, it starts glowing gently and beating.

“Woah,” says Kairi, looking at it curiously. Jack claps his hands excitedly.

Before any of them can even reach for the Heart, however, a trio of masked children burst out of some hiding place, stuff it into a sack, and scramble out the door. It slams shut, and locked, behind them.

“Lock! Shock! Barrel!” Finkelstein shakes his fist at the door. “Oooooh, when I get my hands on those hooligans!”

Jack frowns. “They must be working for Oogie Boogie again. Oh dear, we’d better follow them and get that Heart back. Dr. Finkelstein worked so hard on it, and besides, I dread to think what Oogie’s plans are for it.”

* * *

The kids are traveling in a clawfoot bathtub, of all things, which moves about as fast as Zack would expect an animated bathtub to move. They have a decent head-start, because it took Cloud and Kairi a couple minutes to break down the very solid door to Dr. Finkelstein’s lab, and crowds of Heartless keep popping up to slow their party down.

Eventually, they reach a towering, rickety-looking house way out in the woods of Halloween Town, just in time to see the front door shut behind the bathtub.

“Well, that’s Oogie Boogie’s place all right.” says Jack, hands on his hips. “It’ll be covered in traps, so be careful.”

Zack isn’t, as a rule, a particularly careful person. This turns out to be fine, since he doesn’t have a physical body to get caught in the traps. Cloud, on the other hand, nearly loses his tail to a rusty bear trap when he mis-judges a swing at a Heartless.

Still, they make it through and find their way into the mansion and to the kids, who no longer have the Heart or the bathtub. They do, however, have a wide variety of weapons and explosives that Zack is pretty sure kids should not have access to (Kairi excepted, he supposes, although she’s... probably a few years younger than these ones? Taller than them for sure). Also, as Cloud finds out at some point in the fight, the little fuckers bite.

Still, Zack’s glad he and Vincent can’t really do anything in the fight other than keep an eye on what’s going on and call out suggestions. He feels kind of bad about beating up on kids, although Kairi clearly does not have the same hang ups as she smacks them with the flat of her Keyblade like it’s a baseball bat until all three have been punted into one of the hanging cages that dot the room.

“Ugh,” says the one with the devil mask. “I can’t believe you beat us.”

“Oogie will be so disappointed.” says the one with the white mask, sadly.

“Yeah,” says the one in the green and the witch’s hat meanly, “especially since you’re with that  _ completely _ un-scary guy.”

_ Hey _ , says Zack, indignant, and stops feeling bad about beating up kids in favor of letting Kairi threaten them until they give up Oogie’s location.

* * *

“Well, well, well! That certainly didn’t take you long!” Oogie Boogie says. It’s a little hard to tell, because he’s made out of sack-cloth and his face seems limited to expressions like ‘malice,’ but he doesn’t seem disappointed.

Instead, he raises the artificial Heart over his head and starts making some speech about getting the Heartless to follow him using it. Cloud’s tuning it out: he has a policy about ignoring it when villains start monologuing.

Eventually, Oogie does something and the Heart starts glowing. Everyone waits expectantly for Heartless to start appearing.

It’s a very sad showing, honestly. Only a handful of Shadows, and one of the searchlight ghosts.

Oogie frowns. “That should have worked better. I control the Heart, I should control the Heartless!”

“Well, yeah,  _ kupo _ .” Kairi rolls her eyes at him. “That Heart isn’t real. It just has some residual affection from Jack and Dr. Finkelstein, because they wanted it to work so badly. But that’s not the kind of thing the Heartless are after.”

Cloud side-eyes her. “Kairi, how do you know that?”

“It’s... it just is,  _ kupo? _ How can’t you see it?” Kairi’s face scrunches in confusion. She shrugs.

“So, we made it work just by wanting it?” Jack asks, and then beams. “What a wonderful thought!”

Oogie, clearly sick of being ignored, stamps his foot. “Hey! Well, if I can’t get an army of Heartless to do it, I’ll just have to beat you up myself!”

Cloud draws the Buster, surprised to find himself growling. Kairi drops into a ready stance next to him, Keyblade appearing in a flash of light, and then the fight is on.

* * *

Oogie Boogie is  _ slippery,  _ and Kairi’s getting frustrated. Tempest Breaker is full of power, but it takes big, kind of slow movements to use it effectively and that’s not really working in this fight.

Panting, she rolls out of the way of a falling cage. As she pops up, she notices a small handle on the blade of Tempest Breaker she’s never seen before. Acting on instinct, she wraps her hand around it and finds a perfect fit.

Kairi tugs gently, and suddenly finds herself with a sword in each hand. The smaller sword, in her left hand, feels light and quick, while the larger has the same comforting heft that Tempest Breaker had.

She grins, holding the larger sword out in front of her and tucking the other in a backhanded grip. She can definitely work with this.

The two blades make it much easier to attack. She can rush Oogie with the bigger blade, and as he starts to dodge swoop in with the smaller, faster blade. There’s something effortly harmonious about it – Kairi knows, deep down, that these are still  _ one Keyblade _ and they never seem to get in each other’s way, even though she’s never dual wielded like this before.

The first time Kairi slashes Oogie hard enough to rip his burlap, she’s expecting the same kind of fluttering-bits-of-straw result that she has. Instead, beetles and centipedes and  _ ugh spiders  _ start crawling out and spilling on the floor.

She jumps back with a yell of disgust. Oh that is  _ so  _ not cool. This sucks.

_ Everything alright? _ Vincent asks, appearing over her shoulder, and Kairi grimaces.

“I hate bugs,” she admits, shuddering. “They’re the worst. This sucks, I hate this, ugh. I don’t wanna get close enough to hit him, but also I really want him to stop existing around me, ew, why did it have to be  _ bugs _ ?”

_ Well then, no one said  _ you _ had to touch him.  _ Vincent points out reasonably.

The chocobo is absolutely thrilled to gulp down some of the various creepy-crawlies spilling out of Oogie as it trampled all over him while the Moogle riding it insults Oogie’s interior decor.

* * *

Oogie’s starting to look decidedly limp around the edges when he finally jumps up to a convenient ledge and, scowling down at them all, swallows the artificial Heart whole. He immediately starts glowing purple, which, Vincent thinks, is probably not a good sign.

This suspicion is confirmed as a huge blast of Dark magic strikes and they find themselves outside again. Kairi gasps, and he looks up to see that the manor is now basically bursting at the seams with an enormous Oogie Boogie deeply embedded in it. Glowing purple orbs dot the entire surface.

“What in Shiva’s frosty wasteland is  _ this _ ?” Cloud demands, gesturing with the Buster sword. Zack shrugs, looking vaguely nauseous.

“I don’t know,  _ kupo _ , but it’s Dark.” Kairi says, and to her credit only a little of her clear uncertainty makes it to her voice. Vincent is so proud, and also doesn’t blame her. This is super weird.

“Spooky!” says Jack cheerfully, and then follows it up with, “Say, those bubbles look kind of important, don’t you think? I wonder what would happen if we hit them?”

It turns out that hitting them does, indeed, destabilize the whole Oogie-house-amalgamation-monstrosity. Unfortunately, that destabilization happens at the very top of the house, and Vincent finds himself  _ exceedingly _ grateful that he and Zack are intangible, Cloud is nigh-indestructible thanks to the amount of Mako in his system, and Kairi is currently full of straw and not more delicate things like bones.

(Jack, the bastard, lands on his feet as if falling seven stories is a perfectly normal part of his day.)

Kairi dusts herself off and stuffs some straw back into her knee. “You know, it feels a lot like when...”

Trailing off, she raises her Keyblade, currently in one piece, and a Keyhole just like the one in Agrabah swirls to life in the ruins of Oogie’s mansion. It clicks shut with a sense of finality.

Jack, who has taken everything in stride so far, seems surprised.

“Has that always been there?” the skeleton asks, eye sockets wider than normal, but everyone else is already heading back towards town.

* * *

“I promise,” Jack tells them back at the lab, “I’ll lay off messing around with the Heartless. I didn’t realize it would cause this kind of trouble – or let Oogie Boogie cause this kind of trouble, anyway.”

“Honestly, they’re kind of adorable.” Sally adds, from where she’s patching up Kairi once again. At Kairi’s request, she’s adding little embroidered flourishes and flowers to the stitching.

Jack nods in agreement. “Not scary at all, I don’t know what I was thinking.”

“By the way,” Dr. Finkelstein says, rolling up with an assortment of gummi blocks on his lap. “Do you want these? I’ve been experimenting with them, and I’m afraid they seem to hold no spooky properties whatsoever.”

He looks disappointed, but Kairi’s eyes are practically falling out of her head. She looks  _ thrilled. _

“ _ Yes,  _ please,  _ kupo _ !” she says, kept from immediately getting up to rummage through them only by Sally’s firm grip on her shoulder. “Thank you!”

* * *

It takes a little while, but eventually they are the proud proprietors of a gummi ship that Kairi deems acceptable. It’s built for speed, with every gun she could find in Finkelstein’s weirdly-thorough pile of gummi blocks and very few shields.

Cloud, when asked for suggestions, gruffly offers “Fenrir” as a name, and since no one comes up with anything better, it sticks.

Kairi informs them all that  _ Fenrir _ runs on focus, because she finds that easiest to work with as a pilot. She does not, for one moment, entertain the thought of anyone else piloting.

Cloud’s a little sulky about that, but does eventually have to admit that it makes some sense. Vincent and Zack physically can’t, and Kairi’s been taught by Cid for years. She insists she’s not as good a gunner and relegates him to the co-pilot’s seat. And, well, it is still her quest, more or less: he hasn’t heard so much as a rumor about Sephiroth in ages.

And so, with one last farewell to Jack and Sally and the rest of Halloween Town, they load up themselves and the puppies (they found two more boxes over the course of their stay, it’s actually kind of ridiculous) and head off to the next World.

* * *

BONUS: TRICK OR TREAT?

“Let me get this straight,” Maleficent, his Mistress of Darkness, hisses as she looms over him. “Hades, the great fool, lost the Princess I left with him, and instead of managing to make yourself  _ useful _ and get her back, you tracked her down and then got too  _ scared _ because there was a  _ scarecrow _ and had to come running back here?”

Diablo winces and nods his beak. His wings are exhausted from flying so much, and he can feel that his feathers are still poofed from his terrifying encounter with  _ That Monstrous Thing _ , but his Mistress is displeased and that’s almost scarier.

“You’re a raven! Not even a crow!” Maleficent throws her hands up in the air and turns to leave the room, her robes swooping elegantly behind her. “Ugh, I’m surrounded by  _ imbeciles _ .”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> > A new form for Kairi's Keyblade, known as Gale Force. The upper edge has been pulled off as a second weapon, while the bottom edge has become mirrored to take its place.


	16. Sora: Puppies and Princesses

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Sora spends a remarkably large amount of time in a space ship with an ever growing amount of dalmatians.

**Underneath A Rock**

The rise of the morning light over the lagoon was as good a sign as any to make their exit, and despite all the effort he had just made to leave Traverse Town again, they were headed right back to it. Pongo and Perdita would know which of their puppies they were still missing, and Cid would be glad to know that the other two were alright, even if they weren’t coming home just yet. Aerith might have some insight into the nature of Princesses, she always seemed to have knowledge about things that nobody else quite knew.

The flight back is quiet, Sora barely moves from the pilot’s seat, eyes staring straight ahead in thought. Whatever it had been back there in the clearing, it had worn Riku like a cheap mask. Something was hiding deep inside of his friend, and they had to get it out. How to do it, on the other hand… That was another question entirely. Goofy and Donald share a look, between the gunner and command seats, the absence of the usually sunny smile on their friend’s face a growing concern between them. The Highwind runs slower than usual, but on a remarkably straight flight path, and doesn’t even slow to blast away at any Heartless in their way.

* * *

“Kid, what the _hell_ was your plan? Do you have _any idea_ how risky that was? Sheeze, you’d think something went seriously wron- What’s with the look?” The faint figure of Aerith hovers behind him, face kind with understanding. Something is wrong with someone Sora cares about. A familiar situation. 

Cid lands hard in a chair at the table, the thump getting the attention of Yuffie, Reeve, and Barret as they walk in. Reeve and Barret’s relief at seeing that one of the kids is safe again quickly begins to match Cid’s growing sense of dread and wonder as Sora relays what happened on Neverland, how Riku’s body had _something_ hidden inside that wanted to possess them, Kairi was okay but still somewhere out there with Cloud, that someone had even managed to find Cloud or Tifa and Nanaki, and that a Fairy called Maleficent is trying to gather “the Princesses”, whoever they were. Aerith goes still when Sora mentions this, green eyes bright with recognition, and a half-forgotten memory nags at Yuffie. Since Yuffie is, well, Yuffie, she naturally immediately shares this thought with everyone.

“Is this starting to sound like what Leon mentioned to anyone else?” The question lands squarely in the middle of the conversation, small talk ends as the former residents of the Planet all stare at her. “Look, right before he disappeared, he was talking about something like, like this.What was it… Something like ‘whence the wicked witch arrives, to claim the pure of heart, three of those of light shall dive, and thwart the coming dark’? Ugh, it was something like that, but I guess it’s not like we can ask him, and now it’s been what, ten years? Ten years and we got a wicked witch and three missing - no, Sora, you still count as ‘missing,’ geez, haring off at the drop of a hat like that - three missing kids. Couldn’t have stuck around to tell us what he meant, nooo, had to go and disappear.”

“Leon was also going more than a little nuts back then, so you’ll forgive me if I don’t take the guy’s fuckin’ advice ten years down the line.” Cid snorts, and Barret nods in agreement.

* * *

Some time later, Barret is _still_ ranting about how Fate never did anyone any favors, why, if there was something to any of these prophecies the Planet would have blown itself to smithereens _decades_ before it actually managed to do so, and wasn’t that bitch Jenova built up to be all tough and then she was just a head in a box, and-

Aerith catches Sora’s eye, flickering slightly more solid as she leans in close and whispers. She’s not loud - she never is, a whisper on the wind at best, and the conditions (Barret’s ranting, but also Cid heckling Barret’s ranting) are less than idea. Sora keeps his eyes on her face, supplementing with lip reading so that he doesn’t miss anything.

Aerith doesn’t talk too much, but it’s always important.

“Sora, the princesses you mentioned… There’s an old fairy tale, one that shows up across all sorts of Worlds.” Aerith says, and then closes her eyes and, with the air of one dredging up an old memory, continues: “The world is destroyed, and still the world is saved by the light from the hearts of children. The light of those children is passed down, staying within new hearts, born pure of light and free from darkness. And there are others who say that if enough pure lights are gathered, a lock will be opened.”

“What kind of lock?” Sora asks. Aerith shrugs helplessly

“It’s never really clear what lock, but if someone’s after them for Dark purposes, it can’t be good. Sora, this is important. Listen to your heart. If a World still has its princess, your heart can help guide you to her.”

“So these pure hearts, are they all, well, princesses?” This gets Sora another shrug, but this time Aerith looks a little less thoughtful and a little more frustrated.

“The stories I’ve heard, they usually are.”

Sora nods. “Okay, so keep an eye out for pure hearts, who are likely to be Princesses. Wonder if being royalty comes first, or if families that produce a lot of pure hearts just get made royal, or - hmmmm….”

Sora trails off into muttering further hypotheses in Mooglish, unaware of the watching eyes of the adults in the room, who have stopped listening to Barret’s bullshit in favor of listening to Sora’s side of the conversation. 

“What’s this about princesses having to be pure of heart?” Yuffie asks, hands on her hips. “ _I’m_ a princess, too you know! And the best ninja thief _ever_ , it’s not like they’re mutually exclusive!”

Cid gently whacks her upside the head. “Shush, let the kid think. Anyway, we all know _ya_ ain’t the pure of heart kind of princess - ya stole all our materia fer Odin’s sake!”

“Also,” says Reeve consideringly, confident that the solid wooden table is enough of a barrier between him and Yuffie, “are you still a princess if the Planet, and therefore Wutai, no longer exists?”

* * *

If Pongo or Perdita are surprised at Sora’s newfound ability to hold a conversation with them, they don’t show it. A full dozen puppies are scattered around the room: some napping, some wrestling with each other, one play-pouncing on Pongo’s tail everytime he moves it. The two are grateful for Sora’s offer to help, and happily list off the name of every single puppy - apparently, someone has made up a little tune to help remember them all. 

By the end of it, Sora is very glad that he’d thought to bring paper and pencil along with him: he now has a checklist of ninety-nine puppy names, twelve of which are dutifully given paw-prints by the puppies present. 

Just eighty-seven more to go.

* * *

_"Well obviously you can’t just go zipping around between Worlds willy-nilly!”_ Mogvar says, exasperated. Its pom-pom droops, as if unable to physically support the idea that one of the kids Mogvar has put so much effort into raising could be so dumb. _“The less-idiot big human is here, the one with the circuits, surely it wouldn’t be too hard to adapt the equipment they use during rescues to find puppies instead.”_

Sora taps a fist into an open palm, wearing a very familiar (to Mogvar, anyway) expression of surprise and realization as the components of an idea suddenly coalesce into something that might be useful, or might just explode. _“Ask_ Reeve _! That’s a great idea Mogvar! I bet if we just change the signature to match the_ specific _World_ Pongo _and_ Perdita _are from, it’ll…”_

The kid trails off into muttering, and Mogvar huffs and goes back to what it was doing at the forge before Sora came in to perform the habitual dramatic collapse into the old armchair in the corner. It’s never minded the kids airing out their problems, but _kupo:_ sometimes they just needed a quick jump-start to their squishy little human-brains.

* * *

“No, ya cannot borrow a gummi-ship, Hel’s teeth kid, I just got ya back again-”

“C’mon, Cid, it’s important! Besides, look at how cute Penny is! She misses her siblings, we gotta go find em!”

“Kid, you’re gonna be the death of me one of these days… fine, but take the King’s two idiots with you, will ya? I don’t like the idea of ya out there alone, and fuck knows none’a us can take the time and leave…”

Sora catches Cid up in a crushing hug, and the mechanic sighs around his toothpick before hugging back.

“Be safe, kiddo.”

* * *

Approaching the remains of Wonderland takes time, and careful flying, as the world has deteriorated further judging by what Riku told him about the place. Little remains of what once looked to be a vibrant castle, and the chunk of marble they land on crumbles dangerously beneath them. 

Two of the chests are easy enough to reach, just a hop, skip, and a rather large leap across the gap between two shattered portions of the fallen World, but the other two are dangerously far out, well beyond their immediate sightline. Some quick thinking from Goofy leads Sora getting a boost off his shield. Then, flaring out with magic, he performs several quick teleports, flitting above and between entire fragments of a World quickly disappearing. A blast of Aero stops his momentum before he can slam into a passing armchair, and he drops quietly into a forest with what looks to be the entire contents of a tea party upended in the trees. 

The muffled barks of puppies snags Sora’s attention, eyes drawn to two chests upended near each other. Sora grins, and heads over.

Teleporting on his own draws enough energy, but taking six puppies with him is even worse. He collapses into a bed in the back, and is asleep before Donald and Goofy can even notice. They do get a good snicker out of the growing pile of puppies sleeping on him though.

Seventy-five puppies left out there.

* * *

Flying back to Neverland almost feels like they hadn’t left, as they pull in tight near Hook’s ship. Where before the ship had been desolate of life, aside from Hook and Smee, now what seem to be the normal crew are present, setting about their duties across the deck and amid the sails. Of course, the most surprising part is the addition of 12 puppies helping out, playfully pulling ropes and dodging between legs. One pup with a spot over his eye is happily sitting on top of an equally delighted looking pirate with a matching eye patch, singing and barking along to a tune that’s held by all of the other pirates.

It takes some haggling, but they manage to broker a deal with the pirates about talking to Peter to see if he can get them some dogs, since the puppies need to stay with their parents for awhile longer. The pirates wave a tearful goodbye as the puppies pile into the dinghy, yips of goodbye returning their calls.

Sixty-three left, and the ship is already feeling full of puppies.

* * *

The satyr is definitely something new. Even with all of the things he’d seen so far, satyrs walking, talking, and being completely unable to count how many words were in a sentence was definitely new. Wait, did he just say-

“Yea, so you got any use for some dogs? I found these guys hiding out front when that ol’ smokestack Hades last came through, youse guys dog people? ‘S like having yer own personal Cerberus lying around, three heads, all licks, real friendly like.”

The three puppies eagerly clamber into the Gummi Ship, thick as thieves.

* * *

Halloween Town is almost a bust, but one tiny blip on the radar gummi results in Sora hitting the brakes so hard Donald slams flat into his sandwich. The disgruntled noises follow them outside, Sora and Goofy taking a moment to laugh at the fact that the sandwich Donald has just tried to eat again has fallen out of the bandages that now wrap him, entirely untouched. Further tries to eat the sandwich end when the first puppy out of the box manages to snatch the contents of it right before Donald takes a big bite of- Well, bread. The sound of grumbling follows them back to the ship, Goofy’s laughs occasionally interrupted by a hiccup as the bolts on his neck get zapped by Donald’s magic, which only causes Sora to laugh harder.

* * *

Whatever the name of this place is, there’s sand, and sand, and _sand_ , and- and an actually remarkably large city behind the next dune, as it turns out. The presence of a smarmy looking vendor in possession of more puppies than he quite knows what to do with turns out to be just as much of a surprise as the city was, though perhaps the price he wants is a bigger shock.

Something feels off about the air though, wide open markets feel cloistered, normally vibrant crowds huddled and twitchy. The whispers on the breeze only add to the unease that’s growing in Sora. _‘The princess, missing, gone- The princess, kidnapped! A wild tiger loose in the palace! Cripes, have you seen the price of these- The princess!’_ The memory of Aerith’s words floats to the forefront, and finding a clear alley, Goofy stands guard against the purported cutpurse that’s been thriving in the area while Sora concentrates, and Donald wrangles puppies.

Silence falls over the alley, as Sora slips from a standing position to slouch against the wall, eyes closed to the harsh desert light. Breath, just like Aerith taught him to help deal with panic. In, out. In… Out… A moment turns to two, three, when the feeling hits. Tense aggression, panicked searching, looking-looking-looking- _missing._ Something is _missing_ , something important. While the security of the world is intact, something has invaded, stolen, fled. The princess is missing. And Agrabah cries out for her.

The return to the ship is solemn, broken only by the occasional bark of a puppy. Forty-five still missing.

* * *

“Sora! Good news from Riku! They managed to find an entire bundle of puppies, twelve in total. Cait Sith said that they’d do their best to get in touch with you, or get back to Traverse Town, but they need to leave now to get the right path to their next. Let us know if you manage to catch up to them, or else we’ll update you when they get here.”

The message is short but succinct, and Sora marks out the attached names, sketching in the pawprints to match their siblings. Twelve more down, thirty-three left.

* * *

Finding a giant space faring whale: Surprisingly easy. Getting said space faring whale to eat you: also surprisingly easy it turns out. Whatever Sora expects out of a creature this huge’s insides is definitely not what he finds though. Disgusting as it is, it’s also kinda fascinating, wondering what all of the vibrantly colored chambers actually do for the whale. Though, as far as being a hospitable place for puppies, probably not the best place for them to live. Some of the platforms need Donald to carefully balance on Goofy’s shoulders in order to help him up though, which definitely makes a weird image even weirder. Seriously, how did a whale swallow nine- no, twelve puppies, including the ones that Geppetto had brought home.

* * *

Returning to Traverse Town almost feels like admitting defeat on finding the remainder of the puppies, but as the steady stream of dogs pours forth from the ship into the open doors of the house, a sense of satisfaction grows in Sora.It might not be all of them, but that’s a _kup-ing_ ton, and they’d find the rest. They just needed more data.

“Er, Sora, my boy, what ah, what may I ask is going on with all these little rascals?”

“Just returning… what, 60-some puppies? Why do you ask, Merli-Merlin?! When did you get here?” Sora’s head snaps around so fast Donald almost casts a cure spell out of reflex. The old wizard is standing just behind Sora’s shoulder, arms hidden behind him, and with his hat wagging suspiciously.

“Oh, just a few moments ago. Thought of something I’d rather well forgotten back here and just figured I ought to pop in for a moment and grab it.”

“Then what-”

“Well, I was looking around my old tower, and I er… Well I found these young ones around the place, and that was certainly no place, no place at all for them. So I er…” Merlin hands off the puppy he had behind his back, and begins to pat down his robes, steadily finding and retrieving more and more puppies from within some surprisingly deep pockets. “I suppose I ought to let you take care of these little ones, eh lad? No where did that last one go…”

“Er, Merlin?”

“Mhm?”

“Your hat is barking.”

“Oh my heavens, is that where the little devil got off to.” With a sweep of his hand, the tall peaked hat is flipped off his head, and a puppy with a pitch dark tail is retrieved, and let loose to go return to the house as well.

Perdita appears at the doorway, watching the last of them come in, counting off as the last puppy returns home. The look of happiness on her face dims, slightly, at the realization that the count is still short. Two barks and a yip. Twelve puppies still missing. The thought would push on Sora, if it isn’t for the door opening and the positive wave of puppies that flows forth, each one vying for the attention of the nice human with the warm coat. A laugh escapes his lips, and he lets himself be lead inside, trusting in the power of puppy love to help stave off the thoughts of missing puppies, and friends in danger.

Eighty-Seven out of Ninety-Nine Puppies Returned.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for this one being so late, some parts of this were fighting to not come out. Hope you all enjoy. - L


	17. Riku: New OrleanS

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Riku runs errands for a 196 year old blind lady.

**Find Out Who Ya Are**

Riku’s anxious to head out as soon as possible, once Tinkerbell has given them directions to their destination. According to Sora and Peter, this ‘Mama Odie’ is both very wise and a wielder of immense magical power, making her one of the most likely people in any World to be able to help Riku, who is anxious to get _whatever that was_ out of themself as quickly as possible.

Tifa, however, puts her foot down firmly and insists that they get at least a full night’s sleep before leaving. Riku doesn’t like it, but she does make a good point about making sure everyone is ready for whatever comes next, so they guess they can put up with it.

Sora heads out, too, the next morning, and Riku – well, they can admit that they don’t like it. The two of them had just found each other again, splitting up feels wrong even though they know in their head the many reasons it’s a good idea, that Sora’s going to Traverse and is perfectly capable of keeping himself safe at any rate.

Sora presses a beautiful pair of bracers into Riku’s hands before he boards the _Highwind_. Riku runs practiced hands over the metal and finds no flaws, although there’s something about the way that the clasps are attached...

“Is this what you welded with Tinkerbell?” They ask, holding the weld up to the light to get a better look. It’s kind of... sparkly, and seems really solid. Mogvar would probably even be impressed. Riku certainly is: Sora was always the best at this kind of creative approach to mixing materials. “That’s amazing.”

“Stay safe, okay?” Sora says, serious for once, meeting Riku’s eyes before breaking into that familiar bright grin. “I’ll see you soon.”

“Yeah, see you soon.” Riku agrees, smiling back, and they bump fists briefly before Sora gets in the _Highwind_ and takes off.

* * *

Tinkerbell’s directions are good, if a little strange, but they don’t run into any major trouble on the way to the new World, which everyone is grateful for. Neverland melts away, they drop Wendy and her brothers off in a blue-tinged city lit by thousands of gas lamps, a few Heartless ships fly by but are easily dealt with, and soon enough they’ve arrived.

“Accordin’ ta my database, this World’s name is New Orleans,” Cait Sith anounces as they orbit the World. “Now, tha wee pixie said we’re lookin’ for somewhere called the Bayou, right?”

“Right,” Riku agrees, and leans over to look at what the _Medium Sized Bronco_ ’s sensors are picking up. “It looks like there’s a city, which has a bunch of people in it, and some wilderness, which is more empty. Which should we land at?”

Tifa shrugs, holding her hands up to indicate that she had no opinion and someone else should decide.

“Let’s land in the wilderness,” Nanaki says, “we can get a sense of the place, and if we need to we can go to the city to ask directions, but there’s no sense in borrowing trouble straight off.”

“Makes sense,” Riku agrees, and they carefully steer the gummi ship down into the trees.

* * *

“Well,” Tifa says, thoughtfully, “I don’t think going to town and asking for directions is going to work out so well for us.”

Nanaki has to conceed that Tifa is probably correct. Upon exiting the _Medium Sized Bronco_ , the magic imbued in the gummi ship to help protect the World Order had immediately kicked in, and all of them – except for Cait Sith – had found themselves transformed. The town they’d seen had definitely been scaled for humans, or at least humanoids, and they are, well, not.

However, that doesn’t mean Nanaki has to be _happy_ about it, considering he is currently a mid-sized, bright orange house cat. Sure, yes, it’s probably inconspicuous, but the sheer indignity of his noble form being replaced with _this_ grates. Also, the wilderness is a swamp, and full of water, and Nanaki is already extremely over it.

“What even _am_ I?” Riku asks, turning themself about to get a better look at their amphibious body, which is covered in black and yellow stripes.

“Some kind of salamander, I guess?” Tifa offers. She’s currently a red crustacean – quite small, barely half of Riku’s size, and Riku is already only about as long as Nanaki’s tail – with strong-looking pincers.

“Huh, neat, we didn’t have those – either on the Islands or in Traverse. You look like a tiny, extra-pointy lobster, though.” Riku tells her, and Nanaki considers it a mark of how much Tifa likes the kid that she just smacks him lightly, rather than pinching him. “Hey!”

“Don’t call a lady a pointy lobster, kiddo, it’s rude.” Tifa says, and makes a strange turning gesture that Nanaki supposes is the equivalent of tossing her hair over her shoulder.

“Well, this is all quite strange,” says Cait Sith, who as its normal, robot-cat, two-leg-walking self is now suddenly the tallest member of the party. “And doesna get us any closer to findin’ this Mama Odie, does it?”

Riku summons their keyblade, which appears at scale and in their mouth. Nanaki thinks they might be concentrating, but it is quite hard to tell on a salamander’s face. They say something, which comes out completely muffled around the hilt.

Feeling very like he’s turning into his parents, Nanaki says, “Not with your mouth full.”

“Sorry,” Riku says, keyblade vanishing in a flash of light. “I said, I think that way’s important. It feels bright”

They gesture with their tail, away from the city, and – since no one else has any better ideas – they head off.

* * *

Several hours later, Riku is starting to have serious doubts about this whole navigating-by-their-heart thing. They had been so sure about this being the right direction, but now they’re instead quite sure that they’re, well, lost.

“We’re never going to find Mama Odie at this rate, _kupo_ ,” Riku says, and Tifa awkwardly pats them on the shoulder with one of her pincers.

“Never say never, kiddo, we’ll figure it out.” She says, and the deliberate calmness of her tone tells Riku that their own tone is probably edging closer to panic. They’d be embarrassed about that, but the looming fear about never fixing whatever is wrong with them is increasingly present, especially now that Sora’s no longer around, and well, having an adult around and calm is pretty nice. Reassuring.

“Scuse me, folks, but did I hear y’all was lookin’ for Mama Odie?” A new voice asks, and Riku spins around to find a glowing bug hovering nearby.

As if this was some kind of signal, Riku suddenly notices that the bright points of light floating all around the swamp are all the same kind of bug

“Yes! We were told to go to the Bayou, and find Mama Odie. We need her help.” Riku explains, and the bug laughs heartily.

“Why, you’s already here! Welcome to the Bayou! My name’s Ray.”

Riku carefully taps the offered hand, rather than attempting to shake it, and tries his best to chanel Sora or Kairi’s comfort with new people, smiling akwardly. “I’m Riku. This is Tifa, Nanaki, and Cait Sith.”

Ray peers at the two cats (well, one cat and one cat-shaped piece of machinery). “Huh, don’t see a lot of those out here. Anyway, we’s headin’ that way – y’all want some guides?”

“Really?” Riku asks, and smiles for real this time. “That’d be great, Ray, thank you!”

“Haha, no worries,” Ray says, and waves them along. “C’mon, y’all, right this way!”

* * *

Following Ray and his family is a pretty amazing experience, Tifa has to admit. The stream of lights is beautiful, the music they’re playing is infectiously joyful, and every single one of them seems to be having a truly excellent time.

In fact, it makes her realize something about this World: she hasn’t seen a single Heartless the entire time they’ve been here, and from what she remembers of the charts Cait Sith and Riku had been consulting to figure out Tinkerbell’s directions, New Orleans is quite close to the action, as it were.

“Say, Ray,” She calls, and the bug in question does a fancy loop-de-loop to end up in front of her. “I was wondering, is it always so... peaceful, here?”

“Well, I mean, we’s got our share of problems, sure,” Ray says, scratching his head. “Not quite sure whatcha mean, Miz Tifa.”

“I mean, there’s no monsters? No Darkness?” Tifa presses, and Ray’s expression clears into understanding.

“Sometimes, eh, but you’s talkin’ about _Heartless_ , ain’t cha? Nah, we don’ got too much trouble with them, the Bayou’s under some powerful protection, if you get my meanin’.”

“Mama Odie, do you mean?” Riku interjects, skittering over from where they’d been watching some of Ray’s cousins weave in and out of tree roots with fascination. Apparently this topic had managed to catch their ear.

Ray laughs. “Ah, she does some, yeah – but we’s got somethin’ even better!” He points up, and Tifa follows his pointing to see a beautifully bright star shining clearly through a gap in the branches.

“That’s Evangeline up there,” Ray says, and sighs happily. “Ain’t she beautiful?”

“Oh,” says Riku, like they’ve realized something important, “She’s so full of Light.”

Ray loops a lazy heart in the sky, around the distant light, “Queen of the night, she is. Ah, _je l’adore, ma belle Evangeline.”_

Apparently used to this, Ray’s family smoothly swap the tune they’ve been playing for something much slower and more delicate. Tifa gives Riku a questioning look, which apparently manages to make it through even on her crustacean face.

“It’s like a shield, _kupo_ ,” Riku explains, gesturing up at... Evangeline. “She’s lighting up the sky so much that it, um, spills over and keeps the Heartless from finding a way in. This is probably the safest World in this sector, at least from Heartless.”

“Huh,” says Tifa, and they continue on.

* * *

By sunrise, they’ve made it to an enormous tree, deep in the Bayou, which contains what appears to be an old wooden boat, and all the fireflies are yawning.

“Really, Ray, thank you,” Riku is saying as Ray’s family disperses to find various places in the trees to sleep, when they’re interrupted by a door on the boat slamming open.

“Why, hello, children! Y’all’s early!” A short, older woman wearing dark glasses appears in the doorway, grinning widely, a snake draped over her shoulders. She steps confidently forward, out over nothing, and the snake quickly slithers down to form a slide and redirect her to the stairs that spiral down the tree’s trunk.

“Mama Odie?” Tifa guesses, as she uses the snake like a cane and makes her way over to them, and the woman laughs.

“The one an’ only! Now,” she puts her hands on her hips and turns unerringly towards Riku, “Child, what _have_ you done to yourself, my goodness, what a mess. Well, c’mon y’all, up you get! Time don’t wait for no one, and I gotta keep a nose on my gumbo! Juju here never seems to manage to keep it from burning...”

* * *

Installed within Mama Odie’s chaotic home, and after a nap in concession to having wandered through a swamp all night, Riku shyly scrambles up the side of the bathtub that the old woman is busily stirring gumbo in, and asks, “So, um, can you fix me?”

“Ain’t nothin’ to fix about _you_ , child,” Mama Odie says, poking him firmly in the side. “There’s somethin’ Dark _on_ ya, sure, but that ain’t you – Darkness can be part of you without _bein’_ you, d’ya understand?”

Riku frowns into their reflection in the gumbo. “I... guess so?”

“Aaah, don’t worry about it too much for now. Worry ‘bout this gumbo, how’s this taste to you?” Mama says, shoving some in their mouth and then continuing without waiting for a response. “Needs some things, I think. Well, y’all rest up so you can go find ‘em for me tomorrow, okay?”

* * *

The next day, Nanaki finds himself once again staring down at a crate full of puppies. The crate, and subsequently the puppies, at least seem proportionate to their current forms, which means Cait Sith is capable of carrying them.

“Try not to think about how that works too much,” Tifa suggests, correctly interpreting the look on Nanaki’s face. “Worry about whatever a ‘bay leaf’ is and how we can find some instead.”

Riku skitters down a tree trunk. “I think I found a bunch of rice! Also maybe some more puppies, I’m not sure, the boxes are a little tricky to reach – Nanaki can you jump between those two branches do you think?”

Nanaki looks up at where Riku is gesturing and concedes that even in his current, less-noble-than-usual form, he can make that jump.

He’s just still unsure exactly where in life he went wrong that he’s even being asked to.

* * *

Over the week they spend in her boat-house, Mama Odie tries to teach Riku how to see the future. From what Tifa understands of their conversations about it, the poor kid’s just not very good at it.

“Now, scryin’ in water, oil, an’ gumbo all weren’t your thing, so let’s see if you got any affinity for the cards.” Mama says, putting down an ancient-looking deck of cards on the table. “They’s all got different meanings, and there’s different ways to read ‘em – just give them a shuffle no- oh dear.”

The cards scatter across the floor, two or three fluttering down the hole in the floor. Nanaki sighs and gets up to go fetch them. Riku attempts to meld with the table they’re perched on in embarssment.

Mama Odie, though, just laughs. “Aaaaaah, well, maybe you should just leave the future to Mama, and your cute little friend, of course!”

* * *

Mama Odie is the most incomprehensible person Riku has ever met. Juju, the snake Mama Odie treats like it’s her own child, spends pretty much every waking hour making sure she has everything she needs to hand and doesn’t fall to her death. Mama is unbothered by the prospect of falling to her death, which is a useful quality to have when one is blind and lives in a tree-house that has certainly seen better days in terms of upkeep. Mama is unbothered by pretty much everything, Riku finds.

They suppose she has a lot of practice at it, at least – she mentioned at some point that she was 196, and hasn’t ever lived anywhere else that she’s willing to admit to.

“Destiny’s child!” she hollers, as they approach the boat-house, and Riku supposes that’s them, but isn’t quite sure what’s brought this new nickname on. They’ve never told Mama Odie the name of their home islands, but they’re getting used to how she always knows everything anyway. “How goes the gatherin’!”

“Almost there!” Riku calls back, making their way up the stairs. “I’m not gonna give up, we’ll find it all! Oh, but we found some more puppies.”

Mama meets them at the door and smiles, reaching down to scoop up the currently-extremely-miniature dalmations. “Well, go on, leave ‘em here, they’ll be fine with the others. Goodness knows what a dozen dalmatians is doin’ in the Bayou...”

“It’s okay, we’ll get them home, _kupo._ But in the meantime, I’m going to find that last piece of synthesis material for you.”

Mama Odie laughs and pats them on the head. “Ah, go on then, child, off ya go! So helpful, just like, ah what were their names... Sammy and Eric? No, that doesn’t seem right, hmmm...”

Riku heads back out into the Bayou as Mama stands there, lost in thought.

* * *

A week and a half after they arrive in the Bayou, Mama Odie declares whatever she’s been having them running around gathering supplies for complete, and announces that it’s time for them all to head out. She’s even gotten a hold of Ray and his family to help them get back to the _Medium Sized Bronco._

She scoops up Riku and deposits them on her head to see them all off to the edge of the patch of Bayou that everyone considers to be ‘Mama Odie’s place.’

“Does this mean I’m fixed?” Riku asks, peering down the edge of Mama’s hair wrap to look at her face.

“You was never broken!” Mama Odie scolds them, but stretches up her hands so she can hold them up to her face. “Nah, you gots to make peace with it yourself, but that was always the case, huh? What you need and what you want, they usually ain’t the same – and the easy fix isn’t a fix. You’s all rested up now, much calmer than when y’all got here, that oughta help.”

“Oh...” says Riku, abruptly worried again. “So, it could come back?”

“It might,” Mama allows, and fishes a small charm out of her pocket. “Go on and stick that on your keyblade, there, it’s what you’ve been gathering all those ingredients for.”

Puzzled, Riku looks down at the tiny, star-shaped charm she’s holding out. It looks a bit like a paopu fruit, or those thalassa shell stars that Kairi was always making when they were kids. They summon Guiding Star, and gently touch it to the charm.

There’s a flash of light and then Riku is holding a keyblade that looks mostly the same, except for how the charm has seemingly merged with the top of the blade, but feels different enough that they’re very sure it’s no longer, well, Guiding Star. It’s heavier for one – steady and sturdy-feeling.

“Wow, _kupo_ , thank you. I had no idea you could affect a keyblade like that.”

“Ahhh, ya’ll find out you can do just about anything to a keyblade, you put your mind to it. Keep on fightin’ for those dear to your heart and it’ll all work out, Darkness or no.” Mama says, and sets them down with one last pat. “Go on, child of Destiny, off ya get! You gots to find your other cute little friend, she’s waitin’ for you!”

Riku latches onto that immediately. “Kairi? Where is she? How do I find her?”

Mama Odie smiles mysteriously. “Just follow your heart, child, you’ll know. It’s not the same beach you met on, but you’ll get there.”

“You ready, Riku?” Tifa asks, hoping down from Juju’s head. She shows them the chart that the snake, who is much more practical about questions like ‘where do we go’ than Mama is, had given her and Riku feels themself smiling. They nod.

“Buh-bye now!” Mama says, waving a handkerchief in the air as they head out. “See y’all in a year or so!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> > A change in Riku's keyblade, known as Pulsar Diviner. Within the crook at the head of the blade is a star shaped charm, similar to the ones they used to make on the islands.
> 
> Riku is a tiger salamander, and Tifa’s a red swamp crayfish here. 


	18. Kairi: Atlantica (sea) - pt 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Kairi makes some friends, and also some crafts.

**Down in the Muck Here**

_ So,  _ Zack says, floating in a relaxed position behind Cloud’s co-pilot seat,  _ where are we headed? _

“Dunno,  _ kupo! _ ” Kairi grins at the former SOLDIER, taking her eyes away from the view in front of them for a moment. They’re a few hours out from Halloween Town, and – after Kairi had metaphorically spun the wheels of  _ Fenrir _ for a while, testing out its maneuverability with a series of loops and tight turns – it’s been a quiet flight so far. “Dr. Finkelstein didn’t have any navigation gummis in his collection. But this way feels right, I’m sure it’ll be fine.”

Cloud and Zack turn matching horrified faces to Vincent, who is nominally in charge of scan and navigation input. Vincent shrugs, expressionless. Apparently this wasn’t enough of a concern for him to bring it to anyone’s attention. They exchange glances at each other instead.

_ Her hunches are pretty good so far? _ Zack offers, tentative, and Cloud nods in grudging acknowledgement of this fact. Following Kairi’s vague feelings has yet to lead them wrong – hopefully it won’t get them lost in space forever.

Or, Zack thinks as he looks out the viewscreen, crushed to death by a thousand asteroids.  _ Um, Kairi- _

Kairi’s grin takes on a harder edge, and she accelerates towards the asteroid field. Pulling sharply at the controls, she flips  _ Fenrir _ neatly upside down and over the first enormous rock, whoops with laughter, and continues through the rest of the field. Kairi’s hands on the controls never waver as she weaves them through gaps that Zack would have sworn were too tiny, even for a gummi ship as relatively small as  _ Fenrir _ is.

One final, rolling spin that takes them diagonally past three asteroids and straight _through_ a hole in the final one later, and they’re clear. Kairi’s still giggling, a little manic, as she smooths _Fenrir_ ’s path back into stable flight and eases off the acceleration. “ _Kupo!_ That was great! This handles better than I was expecting.”

Zack gives an enthusiastic thumbs up as Vincent hides a smile and Cloud ruffles her hair with a gruff, “nice job, kid.”

* * *

They do, eventually, arrive at a World. Through the viewscreen, it looks to have extensive oceans, although there’s a decent amount of land. As Vincent reports this information, Kairi seems to only be half-listening. She chews on her lip for a while as they orbit the World, and then makes a decision, taking them down to the surface – of the ocean, not the land.

Vincent raises an eyebrow at her, and she shrugs. Apparently the same feeling that has led them to this World is leading to the endless depths instead of somewhere more stable.

Still, he insists on leaving  _ Fenrir _ first, just in case. The gummi ship’s magic shouldn’t affect him, since he’s incorporeal, but you never know and besides... he probably can’t drown like this, he can at least scout.

The water is beautiful – crystal clear blue and full of the kinds of colorful plant life that Vincent assumes means it will be pleasantly warm for those who can feel such things. It’s also, fortunately, empty of anything that even remotely looks like a threat. A school of silvery fish swim by lazily, but other than that, nothing disturbs the peaceful waters.

Nothing, that is, until the others leave the ship and the gummi magic kicks in. Zack, of course, is also unchanged, floating in the water more or less as he does in the air. Kairi, though, practically falls out of  _ Fenrir _ and hits the water with a splash.

Vincent, acting on sheer instinct, follows her down even though he knows he won’t be able to do anything to help her if she’s in real trouble. Underwater, the reason for the unintentionally-dramatic exit becomes immediately apparent: Kairi’s legs are gone. In their place is a tail, striped white and pinkish-red, and ending in a translucent, spotted fin.

Kairi clearly knows how to swim, but whens he tries to kick her non-existent legs to send herself to the surface, she instead winds up somersaulting and gasps in surprise. Her eyes widen in panic for a moment, before she suddenly relaxes and bursts out with, “Vincent, I can breathe, what  _ kupo _ is going on?”

_ It appears that fitting in, in this World, is in some ways even more extreme than our previous visits have been.  _ Vincent says, head titled.  _ Do you suppose the same will happen to Cloud? _

“Huh, maybe?” Kairi says, although she’s clearly distracted by figuring out what  _ she _ is, twisting around to inspect her striped tail. There are sharp, thin spikes along her spine, and wide, fluttery fins around her waist, producing an effect akin to a ragged, striped skirt. She’s still wearing her usual peach-colored tank top, which is floating somewhat in the water. “I guess we should go get him and find out. I think I’m a lionfish... Wonder if I can breathe above water too,  _ kupo.” _

She can, as it turns out, but the same transformation does not happen to Cloud and Vincent finds himself struggling control his expression at the sight of Cloud’s dismay at his transformation. In what seems to be some sort of cosmic joke about his yellow, spiky hair, Cloud has become a yellow, spiky fish, about the size of Kairi’s head, which she identifies as a pufferfish. The Buster sword has not at all adjusted to this, and it sinks to the bottom of the relatively shallow bay they’ve landed in.

Zack makes no such effort to control his expression, and probably would have hurt himself if he was still alive with how hard he’s laughing.

Kairi dutifully swims down and grabs the Buster, lugging it back up to  _ Fenrir  _ while Cloud complains about what the salt water is going to do to the sword without proper care.

* * *

The peace of the bay doesn’t last as they swim – well, Kairi and Cloud are swimming, if a little clumsily; Vincent and Zack are just kind of drifting along – further into the depths. They encounter strange Heartless: electricity-producing jellyfish and ghosts similar to the ones in Halloween Town.

Kairi finds herself fighting them mostly on her own. Vincent and Zack make great lookouts, but they’re no more corporeal underwater than above, and Cloud doesn’t have any hands. He does, however, have a defense mechanism which Kairi supposes she could have mentioned before it takes him by surprise. The first time one of the weird green Heartless with the tridents slashes at him, he immediately puffs up to be practically spherical, spines protruding in every direction.

It’s hard, not just because of the lack of backup but because she’s not used to fighting in three dimensions like this. It does turn out she has some advantages – the venom in her spines seems to harm Heartless, making curling up into a ball a surprisingly effective defense – but the whole journey is a slog and Kairi is too grateful to question her luck when a stranger joins the fray, using her tail to create powerful waves that send the Heartless spinning off into the distance.

“Hey, thank you for the save!” Kairi says, once the Heartless are all gone and it’s just them and the stranger, who has flowing red hair, a green tail, and a suspicious expression. “I’m Kairi,  _ kupo, _ these are my friends Cloud, Vincent, and Zack.”

Manners apparently outweigh suspicion, and the stranger relents. “My name is Ariel. Tell me – is your weapon a Keyblade?”

Ah,  _ kupo, _ they meet one native of the World and have already been found out. Well, Kairi reasons, at least if Ariel was the one to bring it up, that meant she probably already knew about the whole multiple-Worlds, Heartless-invasion, universe-at-risk... thing.

She re-summons her Keyblade in answer, and holds it out for inspection. Ariel swims closer, and holds her hands out over the Keyblade, but doesn’t touch it, concentrating. Evidently, she finds what she was looking for because when she takes her hand back her expression is much friendlier.

“Well, Keybearer, I’m sorry for the suspicion – Atlantica isn’t as peaceful these days as it used to be.” Ariel says, in her melodic voice, and smiles warmly. “Come, I should introduce you to my sisters. It’s this way!”

Kairi follows readily, recognizing the tug in her Heart as the same feeling she’d already followed while piloting  _ Fenrir _ to this World.

* * *

Ariel has six sisters, which seems to Cloud to be an unreasonable number, and they are all princesses of the ocean kingdom of Atlantica. Ariel had neglected to mention her royal status while guiding them all to the palace, although once Aquata, the eldest, starts explaining he can’t find it in himself to blame her.

“We’d always considered our World to be quite safe from wider conflicts – all of that drama a decade back or so never touched us – but our father, King Triton, is a formidable mage and one of the more powerful fighters in the Worlds. An old friend contacted him, about a year back, and asked for his help on the Frontlines, and... well, he couldn’t say no.” Aquata tells them. She’s sitting on a throne that is much too big for her – Cloud assumes it is appropriately sized for King Triton, who must be at least twice the size of any of his daughters.

Andrina, floating at her sister’s right hand, continues the story. “Father didn’t think he’d be gone this long, and he didn’t want to cause an ocean-wide panic, so he told everyone that he was going to visit an old friend and that this would be Aquata’s trial run at regency. We’ve been running everything since, which was going alright until- until the Heartless started showing up a few weeks back.”

“We think it’s the sea witch, Ursula!” pipes up Arista, and her twin Atina nods vigorously in agreement, adding, “She’s always working Dark magics, and trying to steal Father’s throne.”

“Father took his trident with him,” Adella explains, “it’s the most powerful artifact on this World, and if Ursula ever got her hands on it, well, that’d be the end of the peace for certain. So we’ve been pretending that we still have the trident, just that we aren’t displaying it because Aquata’s not Queen yet and that would be disrespectful.”

Kairi nods, apparently starting to get the picture. “So, since the Heartless are showing up and you haven’t just used the trident to pull some big Magic and stop them from coming through...”

“... Ursula might call our bluff,” Allana finishes, nodding.

“Is that so bad?” Cloud asks, “We could just fight her.”

He’s met with seven identical grimaces, and Andrina shakes her head at him. “No, she’s too powerful. Even with all of us and the army, her Magic is enough that the odds are pretty much even. Add in the Heartless and we’d almost certainly lose.”

Aquata swims forwards and takes Kairi’s hands in her own. “I’m sorry to ask so much of you, since you’ve just arrived, but will you help us? Having a keyblade on our side could turn the tides in our favor.”

“Of course,  _ kupo,”  _ Kairi says, smiling.

* * *

Atlantica is almost endlessly busy. Kairi spends her mornings and early afternoons on patrol with Ariel or one of her sisters, and her evenings learning from whichever princess she stumbles across in the corridors. She feels strangely at home here. Something about the bright waters and soft sand remind her of Destiny Islands, which is at once extremely comforting and yet sad, as she is reminded of her worry for her friends and the distant ache of wondering what happened to their home all those years ago.

The lessons help, providing distraction when she’s physically exhausted but her mind won’t stop spinning. Aquata lets her sit in on court and learn statecraft – she has a very different style from Jasmine, who operated in the background, and Kairi learns more than she was expecting to just by quietly watching.

Andrina teaches her underwater tactics and strategy, how to make the best use of three dimensions. Kairi immediately finds herself thinking of ways to translate the lessons into flying. Arista and Atina spar with her sometimes, and teach her dances the rest of the time. Adella explains Atlantica’s legal system at length.

Allana, though, shows her the artificers’ corridor, and Kairi thinks that probably wins out over anything about architectural styles the princess was actually trying to teach her.

* * *

It takes a little persuading to convince the artificers to loan her the use of their forge, but fortunately Ariel’s friend Flounder knows many of the craftspeople and craftsfish who work there. Kairi dives into multiple projects immediately, things she’s been designing in her head as she collected materials during their adventures. It’s so  _ nice _ to have the chance to make things again, she thinks, wrapping a wire carefully around a spare piece of Titan-rib-ice to anchor it to the ribbon charm she’s making.

While out patrolling with Adella one day, Kairi spots some long, thin shells that look a little like the thalassa shells from Destiny Islands – five of them, perfect and whole, and on impulse she scoops them up. That evening she finds herself sitting in on Ariel’s singing practice with Sebastian, listening to the mermaid’s lovely voice as she worries the shells between her fingers.

There is some stray wire in her bag (a necessary concession to the lack of pockets, but not one she’s thrilled with – bags have always been more Riku’s thing, she and Sora generally prefer pockets), and she finds herself carefully tying the shells into place without thinking about it too much. By the end of the performance, she has a star-shaped charm in her hands.

* * *

“ _ Woah, Kairi, you’re getting really good at that!” Sora says, looking at the half-formed thalassa charm in her hands. _

_ She smiles at him, proud of her work. “Thanks. I really appreciate you and Riku helping me find the unbroken shells, who knew it’d be so hard to find five of the same size?” _

“ _ Hey!” Riku calls from further down the beach, shoes off and feet in the water. “I think there’s some more down this way!” _

_ Kairi and Sora grin at each other, and stand up. She stuffs the little charm in her pocket, and they run down the beach to join Riku. There are indeed some more thalassa shells, mostly unbroken, and Kairi counts them out carefully. _

“ _ Is that going to be enough for your project?” Riku asks, curious. _

“ _ Mmmmm, almost! Just three more,” Kairi says, doing some quick math. “Let’s try the other side of the island?” _

“ _ Sure!” Sora says, bouncing on his heels. “Hey, we should race there!” _

“ _ You’re on,” laughs Riku, and the three of them are off. _

* * *

_ What’s wrong, Kairi?  _ Vincent asks quietly, crouching down in front of her. His hair flows out behind him as if caught by the currents, and his red eyes are concerned. She raises a hand to her cheek and finds that she’s crying.

“I just, I miss them, my friends,  _ kupo _ ,” Kairi says, and her voice cracks. She starts crying in earnest, arms wrapped tightly around her own stomach. “I used to make these all the time – there’s a story, that if you make them with thalassa shells, you’ll come home safe, and I just realized I can’t remember if we had any with us when we left, I can’t remember if our  _ parents _ had the ones I made for them before they sent us away.”

Vincent hovers uselessly, unable to hug her, but fortunately Ariel has noticed and comes up to hold Kairi’s hand. Kairi takes a deep, shuddering breath and wipes her eyes, squeezing her hand in gratitude.

“You can say no if you don’t think it will help,” Ariel says hesitantly, “but would you like a distraction? I have something I’d like to show you.”

* * *

Ariel’s sisters have been showing Kairi all kinds of things about Atlantica, but Ariel herself shows the four of them something else entirely. The land they’d seen from  _ Fenrir _ ’s orbit is inhabited – there is a human world as well as the one belonging to the merfolk.

“The Heartless are only under the sea for now,” Ariel explains, expression tight and worried as she watches the lights of the party on the boat from a safe distance away, “but they could start appearing on land any time, and the humans aren’t ready for that. They don’t know  _ we _ exist, much less Heartless and other Worlds.”

“And you want to tell them?” Cloud asks, and Ariel nods.

“They might be able to help us. We could at least warn them, you know? But Aquata thinks we should maintain Father’s rule of absolutely no contact with the surface, and um. Well, I’ve always been really interested in human things, and I think my sisters are worried it’s clouding my judgement.” She blushes. “I have a bunch of artefacts I’ve been trying to identify and everything.”

“That’s silly – not your artefacts thing, I think that’s very cool!” Kairi stammers, realizing her outburst could be misconstrued, “I mean, no contact is a silly rule. You’re right, they’d be totally unprepared if the Heartless attacked, and I wouldn’t wish that on anyone.”

_ Huh, that storm is coming in fast, _ says Zack, which feels very off topic until they all look up and see the dark clouds swirling together almost directly over the ship.

_ Suspiciously fast, _ Vincent agrees, and lightning strikes the ship as if to prove his point.

* * *

“You did  _ what _ ?” Sebastian demands, mouth agape.

“She saved the human prince, and it was absolutely the right move,  _ kupo _ ,” Kairi says, defending Ariel. “He didn’t even see her.”

“I kind of wish he did, though.” Ariel admits, wringing her hands together, “It would make it so much easier to broker an alliance if their  _ prince _ was on our side – and no, Sebastian, I didn’t realize he was the prince until I heard a bunch of people in the rescue party shouting about it when they found him on the beach. Where I left him. Without being seen. Please stop panicking.”

“I will panic as much as I please,” the crab sniffs indignantly, but relents quickly enough. For a supposedly-impartial royal advisor, he has a shameless soft spot for the youngest member of the royal family. “I’m glad you’re safe, Ariel. But the human world is a mess, and we have enough troubles down here. No need to borrow more.”

“They would help if they knew!” Ariel yells, fists clenched at her sides, and several of her sisters flinch at this outburst.

Aquata, however, is unmoved. “Ariel, I know you want to try and help, I know you’re meant to be the diplomat – to see the best in others, how they could be our allies. But it’s too dangerous, and we need you here rather than chasing a hope. I’m sorry. For now, let’s focus on the annual musicale – we need to keep up morale and show that everything is as normal.”

And that, it seems, is that.

* * *

“Kairi, are you busy?” Ariel asks, wringing her hands nervously, and Kairi puts down the chain she’s been trying to braid the weird glowing moss she found in Halloween Town into – she thinks it might help repel poisons. “I need your help with something, and it’s kind of a lot to ask, but... please hear me out?”

“Of course, Ariel,” Kairi says, swimming up to the other mermaid, careful of her own spines as she gets close. “What is it?”

Ariel takes a deep breath. “I need you to come with me. I’m going to make a deal with Ursula.”

Kairi’s eyebrows reach her hairline in record time. “The Dark sea witch? Why,  _ kupo? _ I mean, I trust you, and this feels like something you believe in but... why?”

“She’s the only one who can give me legs.”

* * *

Ursula makes her home in a cave, far past the outskirts of the kingdom’s borders, and every instinct Cloud has recoils at the eerie purple glow it’s giving out.

Everyone has agreed that it’s probably best if Vincent and Zack stay out of sight, and they had left Flounder to keep Sebastian distracted while they snuck out of the palace, so only Cloud and Kairi accompany Ariel into the sea witch’s lair, swimming through a corridor lined with shriveled, whispering things.

Ursula herself is the kind of slimy expert salesperson that has always left a bad taste in Cloud’s mouth, promising the world in exchange for trifles. Cloud hates this plan already, and then Ursula swoops forwards to tip Kairi’s chin up with one finger and he finds it within himself to hate it even more, puffing up a bit before realizing what he’s doing.

“And you, my dear – oh, so lonely. I could help, you know, finding your friends is  _ well _ within my abilities...” Ursula smiles sweetly, and Kairi shakes her head.

“No, thank you. I’ll find them on my own, I’m just here to make sure Ariel didn’t run into any trouble on her way to see you.”

“Trouble! Hah!” Ursula cackles, swimming back over to her cauldron and adding in a few glowing ingredients. “Such a sweet friend you are. Oh, well. Now, princess – have we got a deal?”

* * *

Kairi and Cloud drag Ariel out of Ursula’s lair in a hurry, and a glimpse of pale legs tells Vincent that the rush is probably due to Ariel’s newly-human status rather than being chased by anything. He gestures for Zack to follow the others and keep a look out, but he himself slips further into the cave’s entryway. Old instincts seem to apply as well underwater as they do on land, and he finds a spot where the acoustics are  _ perfect _ , Ursula’s crooning to her little sidekick eels echoing to him with crystal clarity.

“Now, boys,” she’s saying, “all we have to do is find whatever Keybearer those Triton’s brats managed to recruit, and get rid of them. Maleficent keeps supplying the Heartless, and we’ll just never let her know that not a single one of those seven princesses is a true Light. And then... the trident will be  _ mine.” _

Frowning, Vincent creeps back out of the cavern, and heads up to the surface to join the others.

* * *

The dress rehearsal for the musicale is in full swing when they arrive back at the palace. Kairi slants one last glance at Vincent, who nods at her.  _ Just remember what we talked about, you’ll be fine. _

That’s easy for him to say,  _ he’s _ a professional sneaky person. She swims down the main corridor of the palace, towards the throne room, where the music is coming from, and tries to convey a sense of urgency as she does so.

Six beautiful voices rise in harmony, singing the song Sebastian has composed, “She’s our sister, Ari-”

Kairi slams through the doors, sommersulting as they give way easier than she had expected. Everything comes to a stuttering halt at the interruption.

“She’s gone!” Kairi yells, forcing panic into her voice as she rights herself. “Ariel’s missing!”


	19. Sora: Hundred Acre Woods

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Sora gets some much needed rest and relaxation, and bounced around a bit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (This is a stealth-edit from H because L forgot to add it - we're both traveling next week, so there will be no new chapter. See you in December!)

**All Stuffed With Fluff**

Puppies was a good choice. Now, getting out from under the puppies, that’s going to be an interesting attempt. Sora’s hand manages to snake out from under the pile of puppies, and finds a nearby chair leg. He pulls, and gradually succeeds in hauling himself vertical. It’s easier in human form, but playing with the puppies as a dog just allows for so many more possibilities. Though, since that was what had just left him stuck under a doggypile, being human gives him space. Space to breath, hands to scratch behind the ears of whichever dalmatian decides to approach, and legs for others to lean against.

“Tea, lad?” A cup filled with the warm liquid gently floats into his eyeline. As Sora reaches out to take it, he looks up at Merlin, sitting pleasantly in the arm chair he’s leaning against. The old man’s eyes twinkle as he looks at the room filled with happiness, a book placed squarely on his lap. “So, my boy, you’ve traveled the Worlds, seen new sights, found one of your friends too… And yet, something’s still troubling you, mhm?”

“When we first met, and I mentioned Maleficent- What, what exactly can she do? I know she’s an evil Fairy, and she’s after the princesses, but she also did something to Riku, and whatever it was just, just wore them like a puppet. I mean we managed to wake them up, but what if whatever it is has a better grip next time?”

“Easy, easy, go on, drink up. Now, Maleficent… When I was a touch older than you, I too traveled around the Worlds, meeting new friends, fighting off danger and whatnot. Traded blows with the local villains every so often, Maleficent included. But the Worlds were mostly at peace, in those days. The heartless as you know them are by far more active than they were, save places closer to the Darklands, you rarely saw hide or hair of them. Now, what you learned with Mim, all that-that sort of explosions and entropy, one usually terms that as black magic, spells for harm and wounds, and all that whatsit. Spells such as defenses, healing, those are white magic, dispensing positive energy, you know the type. I believe your er, Materia can be classified similarly.”

“Yea, Magic, Summons, Command and Support types. Most people have some skill with a particular type, right?”

“Indeed, and you lad seem to focus a good deal on black magic, with a diverse base of white magic aside, not a bad focus, of course, just something one has to mind. True Magic, on the other hand, is somewhat outside such classifications. It takes a talent to use, but holds no allegiance, and can be remarkably varied. It can flavor lesser magics, or be used alone. Maleficent uses Magic much the same as us, though her spells can have a powerful influence on the mind. Some years ago, and I know not how, she found a way to augment, to alter her spells through the powers of darkness, and I daresay she’s only refined those methods since. Darkness is an inherently corruptive power, it digs deep, and festers like a wound. Combined with her Magic, I’m not surprised she could find some aspect of your friend’s mind that she could drag out, and reward with more power. From what you’ve said about your, er, _arrival_ here in Traverse, something may have been waiting for just the right moment to make itself known.” Merlin takes out his pipe, and begins to puff away, clouds of all shapes and colors billowing out.

“I say, it may not even have been a result of all those years ago. If Riku indeed was in Wonderland as it fell, some scrap of darkness with delusions of grandeur might have latched on, desperate for a host, or, or a way out of that blasted place. Whatever it is, from where ever it’s from, have some faith lad. Deep within, there’s a light that never goes out.” Sora’s face remains troubled, staring down at the dalmatian in his lap, carefully petting the little one’s head.

“You know, I wasn’t just here to deliver those young pups, Sora. This book of mine, it has some powerful magic all its own. And I think you might find some inspiration within. Though, I have just recently had the chance to re-acquire most of the missing pieces, poor thing got tossed this way and that after that old mess ten years back. I’d like you to have a look at it, see if everything lines up, eh? I’ll leave it here, take it in your own time.” With a soft flicker of light and sound, Merlin fades away, leaving the book on the side table by the chair. Sora moves sit within the chair proper, reaches for the book, and-

* * *

Well, this was unexpected. Dealing with anything Merlin finds interesting is always bound to result in some form of wild new experience, but actually finding himself _inside_ of a book? That’s just… just… _Kupo_. There really wasn’t a word for it outside of Mooglish. The feeling of entering a book is like falling softly, gentle breezes push past as Sora falls. An idyllic countryside stretches out below, trees dotting the landscape, forming a vast woods. The breeze plays with Sora’s hair, rushes through outstretched hands, before it whistles away, back just a moment later to catch him again.

It finally sets him down polite as can be, just past the end of a bridge over a sweetly burbling stream. Ahead, atop a small hill, a log, with a rotund, and terribly fuzzy bear sitting, head in his hands.

“Think, think, think…” The words drift along the wind, cycling through Sora’s ears as he makes the walk to the top of the hill.

“Hey, I’m Sora. What are you thinking about?”

“Oh, hello Sora. I’m just thinking about where all my friends have gone. You see, they’ve been missing for some time now, and I’ve begun to worry, if I don’t think of them, will they still be my friends? Oh bother.”

“You know, that sounds kind of familiar. I’m wondering where my friends are too. Would you like to go look for yours? It’s always easier when you have company.”

“I think I would like that very much, Sora. Oh dear, I haven’t introduced myself. I’m Winnie the Pooh, Pooh for short.”

“Then lets go look for your friends, Pooh.”

* * *

The first of Pooh’s friends, Piglet, is a tiny bundle of nerves, hiding away from bees and just about anything else that comes along beneath the boughs of a tall tree, occasionally staring up at the hives above, a balloon clenched in hand. Pooh’s presence is calming to Piglet, though he still stutters his way through his request.

“P-p-p-pooh bear, can y-y-y-y-ou help m-m-me? I-I just, need some hu-hunny, but those b-b-b-b-bees… Oh d-d-d-dear.”

Climbing the tree turns out to be the easy part. The bees of the 100 Acre Woods as it was known were persistent and persnickety. Deft lance work carries Sora through the branches, bursts of wind leaping forth to keep the bees away from Pooh, as he rises to the top of the tree via balloon. The honey is definitely worth the trouble though.

* * *

The wide open meadows of the honey tree and the thinking log begin to slowly grow denser, more filled with trees, as the now trio rounds a corner and finds themselves entering a garden, well tilled, with little signs for each plant. An orange blur flies past as they enter, rebounding off of each and every surface in sight, in the process bouncing into Pooh, flinging him squarely into a hole in the side of the root cluster that makes up a nearby house.

“Oh bother.”

A distressed Rabbit quickly makes himself known, introducing himself quickly to Sora just in time for the orange blur now identified as a Tigger to fly by again, this time angled for the gardens, which only increases Rabbit’s distress.

“Oh my goodness gracious, if he takes out all of my carrots, Pooh will be stuck here all day, and I’ll have nothing to eat, and if Pooh is stuck here all day, he’ll eat all of my honey, and I’ll have nothing to eat, _and_ my-my-my vegetables!” This last cry increases in volume at the sight of Tigger accelerating towards his nearest patch of veggies. Swift blocking from Sora, and some bouncing of his own leaves Tigger bounding away into the distance, a chortled cry of _“hohohohooooooo!”_ echoing back, and the vegetables unscathed. A relieved Rabbit quickly juices some of the proudly surviving carrots, and with a heave, a ho, and a _whoomph_ Pooh is pulled free from within the tree.

* * *

Eeyore was the next friend they met along their way, staring deep into the waters of the nearby river. Well, into is perhaps the wrong word to use when one is already in the river, but his eyes sullenly followed the bottom of the river as he bobbed along.

“If it’s not too much of a bother, could you help me out? If it is, that’s fine. The river slows down eventually.” He doesn’t get a chance to return his head to the water before Sora dives in after him, taking care to keep the mule above his head as he wades back out to the shore.

“Thanks again. Though, now that I’m out, something feels off. Oh well. It’ll come to me. Or it won’t.”

Piglet notices the absence of Eeyore’s tail before he can. Some hushed whispers lead the three to split, as each searches a different part of the surrounding area. Sora makes it halfway up the third tree before the low tones of Eeyore’s voice make it to him, thanking Pooh for his help. Pooh had leaned into Eeyore’s small stick hut, knocking it over, but revealing the presence of his tail. Sora pulls a needle and thread out of the small kit he keeps in an inside jacket pocket, along with some fasteners This seems to be a common occurrence for poor Eeyore, and what is Sora, if not a tailor among other roles. Even with his monotone inflection, the thanks Eeyore gives is easily worth the moments it takes to sew the tail on properly, now with a strong clasp in place of the previous tack. It also gives Piglet some time to help rejigger Eeyore’s hut to be a standing structure again, much to the mule’s gratitude.

* * *

A large clearing, filled with tree stumps that have clearly taken some powerful abuse, allows T-i-double-guh-r to introduce himself properly, and challenge Sora to a bounce off. It goes well, better still after Sora figures out how to use his lance as a balancing point. He’d been trying to figure that trick out for weeks, but Tigger could take one look and point out where he was over correcting for his own weight. A powerful bouncer, and better still, a sometimes observant friend to find.

The combination challenge where Tigger brings on his young bouncing protege Roo is just unfair though. Those two have some serious bounce power. The Whoopty-Dooper-Loopty-Looper-Alley-Ooper bounce is a thing of power and beauty, and Sora’s not even sure where to start figuring out the remarkably detailed mathematical equations that Tigger produces when asked about it.

* * *

As the sun begins to set, Sora, Piglet, and Pooh wander their way back to the hill that the ‘expotition’ as Pooh deemed it began on. Leaning against the log, gazing into the sunset… It brings memories. The islands, where they used to play. The tree they always used to watch the sunset from while waiting for their parents to pick them up. The view from the rooftops as the day ends in Traverse, buildings casting long shadows, clouds fading into the coming night.

Rabbit joins them, and brings a picnic basket laden with tasty food grown in his garden. Owl finally makes himself known, making sure that Eeyore has made it as well. Tigger and Roo make their way up the hill, as a kind Kangaroo who can only be Roo’s mother follows along at a more sedate pace. As the sun finishes it’s path across the sky, and begins to set, stars begin to twinkle, and fireflies take flight, each blink a soft flicker to the stars. It’s peaceful, and for the first time since he took that nap on Camelot, Sora finds the calm beat of his heart, echoed by the light of those around him. And off in the stars, two more distant, but familiar beats, warmth and love made known across the vast distances of space. He smiles. And for the first time since Camelot, he can finally relax. He’s safe. Kairi and Riku are okay. And while they aren’t here now, he knows they can find each other again, no matter the distance, no matter the obstacle.

Deep down, there’s a light that never goes out. And in that light, there is love.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It might be short, but dang it, 100 Acre Woods is always a gateway to feel good moments. I rewatched the avalanche scene in the Tigger movie writing this, that scene still has so many emotions. - L


	20. Riku: Atlantica (shorE)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Riku plays matchmaker against their will, and Eric is generally oblivious.

**But There’s Something About Her**

Eric wanders the beach, lost in thought. It’s only been a few days since he woke up to the beautiful voice of his saviour, and he keeps showing up, hoping she’ll be here. So far, he hasn’t had any luck, but he can’t just give up. Something in him _yearns_ for her: he has so many questions, and if nothing else he feels terrible that he didn’t get the opportunity to thank her properly for saving his life.

He sees a human figure further up the shore and breaks immediately into a sprint, realizing too late that it definitely isn’t his red-headed mystery woman. It is, in fact, one of the newer staff in the palace – a silver-haired girl who Eric sees wandering the halls with bundles of linens or armed with a dusting cloth every so often. She came with some relative, if he remembers correctly, who was hired on in the kitchen.

Unfortunately, she’s definitely seen him, and now he’s running at her and she looks nervous. Oops. He slows to a jog and waves jauntily at her as he approaches, trying to play this off.

“Hello there! Beautiful morning isn’t it?” He greets with a smile and continues to jog as if he has no real plans of stopping. It’s fine, there’s plenty of beach left to wander after he’s passed that big rock over there and can stop this will be _fine._

The look she’s giving him suggests that it probably isn’t fine, but at least the maid just seems skeptical instead of alarmed. “Yes, your highness... it certainly is?”

“Carry on enjoying it!” he commands as airily as possible as he passes her. Damn, he remembers now why he prefers to get his exercise fencing or swimming – running is terrible. “Don’t let me bother you!”

“... very good, your highness.” says the girl, and with one last sideways look she turns back to gazing out at the sea while gently hugging the stuffed cat toy on her lap.

Eric is too busy focusing on making it out of her eye-line to notice that the cat had _also_ been giving him a sideways look.

* * *

Once is happenstance. Twice is a coincidence. Three times is a pattern.

Eric does not make a habit of tracking the patterns of all his staff. It’s not that he doesn’t appreciate them, but they’re pretty numerous and he usually doesn’t have any real contact with most of them. It’s mostly bobbed curtsies and hurried bows as they pass him in the hallways, murmured greetings of ‘your highness’ when he enters a room traded for the stern nod he’s been trying to pick up properly from his father for years now.

He understands how important servants are to the running of a castle. It’s just that he interacts with the staff who are there to help him (well, his father, but it’ll be him soon enough) run the _kingdom_ so much more. Those who deal with the everyday necessities of keeping an enormous palace full of people in good repair, properly appointed, and well-fed are by design a touch invisible. Unobtrusive. You’d notice their absence if the laundry stopped being done and the kitchens went dark, but their presence isn’t meant to be anything remarkable.

For the third or fourth day in a week’s span Eric has passed the maid with the silver hair. They have a standard exchange now, which is unusual, and Eric has given up the pretence of being out on a morning jog along the beach instead sticking to his usual wandering in thought alongside Max.

“Lovely morning!”

“It is, your highness.”

And then he continues on his way and she keeps watching the ocean with sad eyes. She’s never there when he makes his way back so presumably she has other duties to attend to for the rest of the day.

This is all to say that on this particular morning, when Eric finds his mystery red-head lying on the sand around the bend and half-hidden behind a rock, voiceless and naked as a newborn baby, he is at first overjoyed to see her again, and then both confused and concerned at the circumstances.

And then he realizes very suddenly that he has no idea what the maid’s name is, which is a problem, because it is certainly the height of impropriety for him to be alone unchaperoned with a naked young lady, and he could very much use some assistance.

* * *

The prince has been acting weird lately.

Well, Riku doesn’t have a well-defined metric for the prince’s usual behavior, she supposes, since she hasn’t even been in the palace a full month. She and Tifa were hired on without too much trouble once Tifa demonstrated her culinary competence to the head chef and introduced Riku as her “lovely niece, poor dear, so recently orphaned but such a hard worker.” So Riku was folded into the housekeepers with little fuss and Tifa quickly started terrorizing the kitchen staff and Nanaki – who the gummi ship’s door had again decided would be least inconspicuous as a large orange house cat – was left to suffer the indignity of being cooed over whenever any of the other maids happened across him. Cait Sith didn’t have the same problem, exactly, but this world was not one of great technical prowess and was certainly not ready for magitech talking robot cats, so when outside the small but clean room they all shared it generally just pretended to be the toy it looked like.

To get Cait Sith some time outside the room, and because she’s missed the ocean these last few years in Traverse Town (and these last few months wandering fallen worlds somewhat more fiercely), Riku’s taken to spending mornings where she doesn’t have any duties sitting on the beach and watching the water. She ties the laces of her boots around her neck and puts her feet in the waves sometimes, but mostly she and Cait Sith stay above the waterline and talk quietly, or practice some of the subtler, more precise spells it’s trying to teach her.

Mama Odie had said something about a beach, and this one reminds Riku in many ways of the Isles. She misses her friends desperately, but gazing out at the water she can almost pretend that if she turned her head to the side she’d find Kairi and Sora there with her – probably fiddling with some sea shells and dead asleep, respectively. And when she’s not feeling so girly, is a little stuck because they need to be here - until whatever’s going to happen with this world’s keyhole _happens_ and they can move on, or until Mama Odie’s hint becomes clear, or both - the shoreline is a place where she doesn’t have to be _she_ for an hour or so. (She’d forgotten, in Traverse, how stifling it can be to be one thing for too long – _kupo_ , she’s so grateful for many things but one of them is that she didn’t grow up in a world like this, where there’s not so much flexibility or the comfortingly simple Mooglish view of personal identity.)

Anyway, Riku’s point is that since the prince’s birthday, he’s been off. A little more distracted, a little less authoritative. And he’s been wandering this section of the beach more, which Riku knows because he keeps wandering past her and looking extremely awkward about it. And according to the other maids, who like a bit of gossip as they polish the dinnerware and appreciate a listening ear even if Riku’s not so inclined to engage, he’s ‘lovesick’ over a ‘mysterious woman who saved his life in the storm’ and then ‘vanished to the ocean like a morning mist.’ (Carla was definitely the most poetic of the gossips, and Riku secretly liked her better than many of her other coworkers.)

And that’s fine. It’s awkward, but it’s fine. She just has to make sure she notices when he’s coming and not be practicing magic or talking to a plush cat that’s _talking back_.

This though, is so much less fine.

“I’m sorry, your highness,” Riku says, because she cannot possibly have heard this right, “Could you please repeat that?”

The prince squirms, looking as awkward as Riku feels. “Would you mind terribly coming down the shore with me, there’s a young lady in some distress and... déshabillé and I must help her but it really wouldn’t be proper and well, _you’re_ a girl so it’s different for you and-”

Riku considers telling him she’s not always a girl, but it’s probably not worth it right now. Still, this is _weird_ and she’s not a fan and would really like some more control of the situation than she currently has. Sure, if he tries anything untowards she can summon her keyblade and kick his butt – actually, she can probably just wipe the floor with him unarmed, Tifa has been insistent she learn to fight without a weapon, even though the keyblade is magic and literally can’t be taken away from her.

But who she’s _supposed_ to be right now is a shy young maid, newly arrived to the capital of the kingdom. She dithers over it until Cait Sith vibrates subtly and reassuringly in her arms before taking a deep breath and standing up.

She dips her knees in an approximation of a curtsy, since her hands are full of Cait Sith at the moment, and agrees.

* * *

After his excruciatingly awkward conversation with the maid, Eric is relieved to find that it was worth every moment when the silver-haired girl neatly sidelines him from the proceedings as soon as she lays eyes on the mystery red-head. She shoves her stuffed cat into his arms as she quickly undoes her apron strings and strides forward in her no-nonsense boots.

Between Eric’s jacket, her own apron, and some sailcloth that must have washed up from the last storm, the maid gets her into a state of something approaching decency and together they determine that – other than her inability to speak and curiously shaking stride – there doesn’t seem to be anything physically wrong with her to worry about. The redhead is damp, as if she has emerged like Venus from the ocean, and her eyes are the same bright, clear blue he remembers.

Once they reach the edge of the beach, Eric scoops her up into a bridal carry, given her lack of shoes. She blushes, and it clashes with her hair in a most charming way.

“I’ll just... go and fetch the physician. And get a room made up for your guest, your highness.” The maid says, starting to jog ahead. “And find some clothes...”

She turns left, towards the kitchens, rather than right towards the palace physician’s rooms, but Eric is too busy navigating the stairs without dropping his passenger to notice.

“Ah, your highness. Welcome back.” Grimsby says, meeting them at the door. To his credit, he manages to keep most of his skepticism off of his face. “I expect the servant who just passed by is on your orders to air out one of the guest suites?”

“Grimsby!” Eric grins at him, “Yes, she is – she’s very efficient, isn’t she? I really must figure out her name. Anyway, this is... um.”

Grimsby sighs, and there it is, the disapproval Eric was sure was coming. “It seems there is more than one name you should learn, your highness.”

* * *

“Tifa, I need your- what’s happened here, _kupo?_ ” Riku stops abruptly in the doorway to the kitchen, which is currently absolutely _covered_ in flour. It’s not a light dusting, either, no, a thick coat of the stuff has settled on every available surface, and the kitchen staff are all coughing as they attempt to clean it up and just keep spreading it further.

Tifa, right in the middle of the chaos, turns around, sending another puff of flour into the air as it escapes her hair (which has turned grey under the layer of powder). She catches sight of Riku and immediately bustles over. “Riku! Nothing to worry about, just one of the crabs for the dinner getting away. _No_ idea where it’s gone, little pest, but it’s not like they’ll notice just one missing, anyway, you needed something?”

The door shuts behind the two of them, and Riku realizes she’s been neatly maneuvered back out into the hallway, so presumably Tifa doesn’t want to have this conversation in public either. Right, she can play along with that. “It’s kind of... sensitive?”

Tifa squeezes her shoulder approvingly and steers the two of them to one of the side corridors used only by the staff. She leaves floury footprints for the first few steps, and Riku feels momentarily sorry for whoever has to deal with that part of the carpet, before remembering that _she’s_ the one due to clean this hallway today. _Kupo._

Once they’re alone, Tifa pulls a crab out of her pocket and holds it up to Riku’s face “Right, okay, you can hear this thing talk too, right? I’m not finally going crazy? It seems like everyone _else_ who spent any significant amount of time in Nibelheim lost it, so...”

“The only crazy person here is that chef,” the crab declares, with an exaggerated shudder. “I mean, really, you land folks – you would eat a fellow person?”

Riku blinks at the crab. “No, Tifa, I can hear it. Hello, I’m Riku. Sorry about... someone trying to eat you?”

The crab huffs, and crosses its claws in front of itself. “I am Sebastian, and I suppose _you_ had nothing to do with it...”

“Right,” Tifa says, running her free hand through her hair and sending up another puff of flour. “Anyway, you’re safe now and if you stay hidden the chef won’t figure out anything went wrong. Now that that’s out of the way: what was it you needed, Riku?”

“Oh, um, _kupo_ , how do I put this? You know how the prince has been acting weird? Well, today he found this girl on the beach and-”

“Ariel? He found her? Is she okay?” The crab, Sebastian, interrupts, and both Riku and Tifa look at him curiously.

“I don’t know if her name’s Ariel, she couldn’t talk.” Riku says, bemused.

“Red hair? Blue eyes? Sings like a- well, I suppose she doesn’t, right now, curse that witch.”

“That’s her! How do you know her? I thought, um, humans didn’t talk to any other creatures here?”

“Ahh, they don’t.” Sebastian says, rubbing tiredly at his face with his claws. “She’s not from the land, you see, but she saved your prince a while back, and the ocean has its own problems right now, and I guess she thought she could get some help. Meeting him, and opening a proper diplomatic channel, you know? But the sea witch she got to give her legs took her voice, so now she can’t _tell_ him any of that...”

“So, this Ariel is, what, usually a fish?” Tifa asks.

Sebastian laughs at the question. “No, of course not – she’s a mermaid! Seventh daughter of King Triton, and-” the crab suddenly pales and begins to look panicked again. “-and my responsibility.”

* * *

“Ariel, right?” The silver-haired girl who had helped her on the beach asks as she lets herself into the room Ariel has been installed into. It’s a nice room, Ariel’s pretty sure – all of the fabrics are very soft, and the windows are big and look out onto the ocean. It’s weird that they’re glassed in, but she supposes the circulation of air might be less vital than the circulation of water. “I’m Riku, I work here in the palace – and I think I found someone who’s been quite worried about you.”

Riku reaches into the pocket – such clever things, Ariel can see why Kairi likes them so much – and pulls out a very familiar, very irritated crab.

‘ _Sebastian!’_ she tries to say, but as always since Ursula cast her spell, nothing happens. Sebastian seems to get her meaning anyway, and immediately starts in on scolding her.

“-your sisters will be worried sick, and if your father ever finds out, that’s _my_ head on a platter for sure!” Sebastian is still ranting, now from her hands as Riku bustles around the room, dusting here and there and pulling things out of the wardrobe.

“So,” Riku says, interrupting, “Sebastian says you need to get the prince to like you, since the ocean’s need defending. I don’t think that’s really going to be an _issue_ , seeing as he’s completely enchanted by you, but actually getting to know each other can’t hurt, so you’re having dinner together. Can you write, by the way? Is it the same writing they use on land?”

Ariel nods, hesitantly. Riku smiles at her. Her arms are full of some blue fabric. “Great! That way you can still ‘talk’ - maybe not during dinner, but after, over coffee... Anyway, let’s get you dressed properly for the dinner, and make a plan. Sebastian and I were thinking convenient amnesia.”

* * *

Riku is minding her own business the next day, dusting paintings in one of the fancier corridors of the palace while Carla cleans the windows, when the prince appears. As is proper, Riku and Carla both dip curtseys, and wait for him to pass.

Unfortunately, instead of doing so the prince stops in front of them. “Ree! Oh good, I was hoping I’d find you.”

Riku supposes he means her, and panics a little bit. He can’t possibly have found out Ariel’s secret already, can he?

“How can I help you, your highness?” she asks, and is pleased to find her voice comes out evenly.

“I’m planning to take Ariel out to see the market today, and then I was thinking maybe she’d enjoy a boat ride in the evening?” The prince asks, looking worried. “But I wanted your advice, I’m not sure about the boat thing...”

Riku stares at him incredulously, before remembering that she’s not supposed to do that to royalty. Ultimately, she decides she doesn’t care. This cannot be happening. _Surely_ the prince of the entire kingdom has better options to ask for romantic advice from than random teenage maids.

“I mean,” the prince continues, making a vague gesture with both hands, “moonlight, rowboat, that’s romantic right? Girls like that kind of thing, I suppose.”

“Indeed, your highness,” says Riku, pasting on a smile and nodding along. Carla is making wide-eyed fake-scandalized faces over the prince’s shoulder at her, and she’s trying not to make eye-contact because she’s not sure what her own face will do in response.

The prince begins pacing back and forth in the corridor. “I just – look, Ree, please be honest with me. Am I being too forward? Going too fast? It’s not like I know anything _about_ Ariel, after all – the proper thing to do would be to ask her father’s permission to court her but we don’t know where she’s from and neither does she so that’s impossible...”

Riku risks a glance at Carla, who gives her an exaggerated shrug and a little ‘go on, then’ gesture when she hesitates too long. This isn’t a particularly helpful gesture, so she tries for diplomatic: “Miss Ariel certainly doesn’t seem to mind your attentions, your highness.”

Unfortunately, despite this reassurance, the prince clearly has another thought and begins panicking again. “Suppose I kiss her? Is that too much? I would very much like to do it but of course I’m the crown prince and if she doesn’t turn out to be minor nobility at the very least my father will never let me make her queen and-”

“May I be frank, your highness?” Riku interrupts, because this looks like it’s about to spiral and she knows that Ariel is somewhat more than _minor_ nobility and besides, there’s definitely a line she should be drawing here. “You should definitely ask her before you kiss her and let her decide if it’s too much.”

This stops the prince dead in his tracks, and he spins on one heel to face her directly. Rikue spares a mental wince for the weird mark this move will leave in the carpet that she’ll have to put to rights once he’s gone.

“Ask her?”

“Yes.”

“And if she says – well, indicates – no?”

“Then don’t kiss her.” says Riku and then adds, a moment later than she should, “your highness.”

The prince stares for another moment before breaking into a grin. “Yes of course! She can’t speak so I must be careful to check and make sure I am following her true desires! Ree, thank you – please inform the kitchen that I will require a picnic basket suitable for an evening on a small boat in the bay.”

“Of course, your highness,” says Riku, dropping into a curtsey with Carla as the prince dashes out of the room, presumably to go make other arrangements for his date.

Too late, Riku realizes that the prince’s departure means she’s been thrown from the conversational frying pan into the gossip-filled fire. Carla turns to her with an enthusiastic gleam in her eyes, and Riku resigns herself to being peppered with questions for the rest of the afternoon.

* * *

“Well,” Tifa says philosophically from their hiding place on shore as she, Riku, Nanaki, and Cait Sith watch the rowboat Ariel and Eric were about to kiss in tip over and dump the couple into the water. “It was going pretty well until just then.”

“Does that water look weird to you?” Nanaki asks, sniffing it suspiciously. “I could have sworn I saw something glowing in it earlier, and it felt a bit like someone was casting spells...”

“Ah think yer just takin’ too well to this form.” Cait Sith tells him, and gets a growl that – Tifa must admit – is significantly less threatening than usual in response. “See? They’re fine.”

Indeed, both Eric and Ariel are swimming to shore, fortunately some distance away from their hiding spot. Eric looks sheepish and a bit embarrassed, but Ariel seems to be laughing silently, and he is quickly caught up in the absurdity of it as well. They share a sweet moment on the beach, watching the rowboat bob around upside down with their heads tucked close together.

Still, Tifa’s pretty sure the moment has been lost, and they aren’t going to kiss. She lightly nudges Riku, from where the kid has fallen into a light doze, and motions for them all to leave.

“And really, I don’t think those eels are native to this environment at all...” Nanaki mutters under his breath, but no one pays him any attention as they sneak back to the palace.

* * *

The next morning, Riku finds Ariel crying on the steps of the palace.

“Ariel?” They ask, as they hasten down the steps, “What’s wrong?”

She shrugs, and shakes her head, face still buried in her knees. Riku awkwardly pats her on the back and looks out at the beach. Eric is standing by the water, smiling besottedly at a strikingly beautiful woman with wavy brown hair and a glowing golden necklace, which stands out against her dark dress.

Something about the scene feels extremely off, and Riku finds themself frowning as they take a closer look. The woman has a shadow that’s much too big for her form, and it spreads out on the sands behind her in strange, coiling shapes. And underneath the comfortingly familiar smell of salty ocean air is something bitter and foreboding.

The woman opens her mouth and begins to sing, a high, pure sound that doesn’t seem to match her sharp demeanor. Ariel flinches, and Riku realizes something abruptly.

“Ariel,” they ask, feeling a little sick. “Is that... _your_ voice?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And we're back! - L


	21. Kairi: Atlantica (sea) - pt 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Kairi crashes a wedding which, incidentally, Riku is also crashing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heyyyyy sorry this is a bit late, some weeks it be like that. -H

**You’ve Got to Pay the Toll**

“Missing?!” Six mermaid princesses demand all at once, suddenly everywhere around Kairi, and Cloud can tell the poor kid is no longer pretending to panic in the face of this attention.

“She, she- Flounder found this in her grotto!” Kairi stammers, and holds the letter up in front of her like a shield. It is immediately snatched out of her grasp by Andrina, who reads urgently but silently, and then seized by Aquata, who reads out loud.

“ _ Dear sisters, I’m sorry, but I have to try. The Heartless are now infesting even the shallows, and even if the land folk will not help us, they deserve to be warned.”  _ Her voice doesn’t shake at all, but her hands do until Allana gently takes the letter away and smooths out the creases.

“She’ll have gone to Ursula,” Adella says confidently. “Ariel’s smart, she won’t have told the old witch what she was actually trying to do.”

Adrina nods, and adds urgently, “She saved their prince last week, during the storm – the one that was too big to be natural. I bet she told Ursula she was doing it to see him again.”

“Oh!” Arista gasps, and seizes Allana’s shoulder tightly. “Oh, I  _ knew _ there was something about that storm – the sea witch must have brewed it up-”

“-so she could snare Ariel, and, what, try for the trident?” Atina says, picking up her twin’s train of thought. “How does that help her, though?”

“She never does anything for free.” Aquata says, taking a deep breath and squaring her shoulders. “She’ll have set a condition on Ariel’s access to the human world; and if out sister fails...”

There is a moment of tense silence before Kairi breaks it, voice determined. “She won’t. We’ll find a way to help her – Ursula will know if any of you change what you’re doing, but my friends and I are still unknown to her.”

“Thank you, Kairi,” says Aquata, taking one of Kairi’s hands in both of her own. “We will be here if you need us – please bring our sister back to us safely.”

* * *

_ So, she just has kiss him? And she’s got three days to do it?  _ Zack asks, gliding through water alongside the others as they leave the palace and make for the bay where they’d left Ariel before ‘finding out’ about her disappearance.  _ That doesn’t sound so hard. _

“Maybe not for  _ you _ ,” Cloud says, in that dry teasing tone that Zack has missed, these long years of being dead and just watching things get more and more stressful for his favorite blond. “Besides, she has to get  _ him _ to kiss  _ her _ .”

Kairi wrinkles her nose in distaste. “Ugh, that just seems so  _ old-fashioned _ , why can’t she kiss him? Why does there have to be kissing involved? Ursula said Ariel needed to make this guy fall in love with her, but like, you don’t have to kiss everyone you love.”

“You’re not wrong, Kairi, but we can still hope Sebastian managed to find her and get a handle on things while we were busy at the palace.”

* * *

It’s the second evening, and Sebastian has managed to sneak down to the water to let them know that things were going well – so well, in fact, that Prince Eric planned to take Ariel out for a romantic, moonlit boat ride. Kairi spent the rest of the day putting together a second not-quite-thalassa charm, mostly for something to do with her hands while they wait, and it sits nestled next to its match in the bag strapped to her hip.

The boat ride is, indeed, romantic. Sebastian is doing his best to help, corralling all the sea creatures of the bay into providing an appropriate atmosphere. The night sky is clear and the full moon is bright, even underwater. Lurking around hoping that the two people in the boat above you kiss is  _ amazingly  _ awkward, Kairi learns, and it doesn’t help that she can clearly hear Eric’s fumbling attempts at one-sided conversation, which presumably Ariel is participating in through pantomime, through the wooden hull of the boat.

In the brightness of the full moon, she almost misses the glow of approaching jellyfish Heartless, but Cloud, Vincent, and Zack have all been keeping a better lookout and warn her, voices tumbling over not-quite-voices.

She summons her Keyblade and gets to work.

Individually, the jelly Heartless aren’t too hard to deal with, but there are a  _ lot  _ of them, and Cloud’s not so helpful as a fish. He keeps her supplied in potions and ethers, and if he puffs up he can startle any swarming Heartless into scattering, but without the Buster sword it’s really just Kairi on offense as they try to defend the rowboat above them.

She’s nor sure what summoning ChocoMog underwater will do – she knows Moggles  _ can _ swim, but prefer not to, and she’s pretty sure Chocobos aren’t huge fans of water, but it’s just too many for Kairi on her own. She reaches into her bag and comes up with the glowing charm Genie had pressed on her before leaving them in Halloween Town.

A twirl of her Keyblade and a burst of magic Summons Genie, who appears theatrically in a cloud of bubbles.

“Heeeeeeyyyyyyy there, Kairi!” He says in his usual booming voice. “What can I do ya for?”

“Can you just, make them all  _ stop moving _ for a bit so I can play catch up?” Kairi asks, even as she splits Gale Force in half so that she can hit two Heartless at once. Her manners catch up with her slightly after the fact, and she adds, a little belatedly, “Please,  _ kupo?” _

“No worries kid. One time-stopped battlefield, comin’ right up!” Genie rubs his hands together, and then there is a flash of Magic and all of the Heartless freeze in place. They aren’t moved even by the flow of the water around them, and Kairi grins, spins the smaller half of Gale Force in one hand, and sets to work as Genie salutes and pops back out to wherever she’d called him from.

At last, Kairi slams into the last jelly Heartless and takes a moment to catch her breath as it poofs out of existence. Dry, snickering laughter catches her attention, and she looks upwards towards the rowboat – when did it get so far away? - just in time to see Ursula’s minions capsize it and dart away back into the deep.

“Awww,  _ kupo _ ,” she mutters, shoulders sagging as she watches Ariel and Eric make their way to the shore.

* * *

_ Hey, good news!  _ Zack says the next morning, floating back from a quick scouting mission on the surface.  _ They’re setting the big boat up for some kind of party – lots of white flowers, looks real classy. The prince seems like a romantic, given the whole moonlit boat ride thing, I bet he’s planning to kiss her then. _

“White flowers?” Cloud asks, immediately suspicious. Things never just go well for him. “Like, for a wedding?”

_ That seems fast... _ Vincent muses, and Cloud nods. When Vincent agrees with you, it’s usually a pretty good sign that you aren’t just being needlessly paranoid. Guy really never lost the natural Turk suspicion, but he also like, remembers stuff accurately in a way that Cloud sometimes doesn’t, and it lets him estimate threats much more accurately.

There is a splash above them, and they all look up as Sebastian plummets through the water before stopping himself to hover around everyone’s eye level – he must have gotten the crazy seagull to dump him in the ocean rather than swimming all the way out.

“Bad news!” Sebastian says, and a small and petty part of Cloud quietly gloats about how he totally called it. “Ursula’s stolen Ariel’s voice, disguised herself as a human, and is about to marry Prince Eric!”

Sometimes, Cloud hates being right.

“ _ Kupo _ – is the wedding on the ship?” Kairi asks, glancing up as the ship casts off and starts making its way out to sea. “We’d better follow them and try to figure something out.”

Sebastian nods. “We have some time at least. The wedding is scheduled for sunset – Ariel and some human kid are going to sneak on board and try and get her voice back.”

* * *

Sunset arrives far too soon, and they still don’t have a real plan that isn’t anxiously floating nearby and hoping that something appears which Kairi can hit really hard with her Keyblade. She got Sebastian to a rope a few hours ago, and he headed off to find Ariel. Vincent and Zack are taking turns hovering over the ship to report on progress and the general drama, but since they’re both incorporeal there isn’t much they can do.

“I can’t take it any more!” Kairi declares, as the music starts up and guests start taking their seats. “I feel so  _ useless _ , Ursula’s just going to win and then probably start some horrible war between the land and the sea and shove a bunch of Heartless in the middle until the World falls!”

Cloud bumps gently into her side, but doesn’t try to offer any words of comfort, which she appreciates.

The acoustics are depressingly good. Kairi can hear everything the officiant says as the ceremony starts up, and with every word they get closer and closer to Ursula winning. She twists her hands into her hair in frustration.

“Now, before we begin with the vows, are there any present who would oppose this marriage? Speak now or-” the officiant is saying, and miracle of miracles, is interrupted by a startlingly familiar voice.

“We object!”

Kairi’s head shoots up, eyes snapping to the deck of the ship, where she can just barely make out Ariel being towed down the aisle by a silver-haired teenager in billowy trousers and a yellow vest.

“The prince has been enchanted – this wedding cannot be considered valid.” The voice continues, reaching the altar.

“Riku?!” Kairi demands, barely remembering not to shout and give herself away. “That’s Riku,  _ kupo _ , what are they doing here?”

“Wait, Riku like your friends Riku-and-Sora, Riku?” Cloud asks, surprised, and Kairi nods dumbly.

“Why of course he hasn’t been,” Ursula says with Ariel’s voice, “He’s in love with me – after all, I am the one who saved him.”

“I remember her lovely voice.” Eric says, sounding distracted.

Riku squares their shoulders, and tries a different tactic. “Well, ma’am, if that’s the case then I’m not sure  _ you _ ought to marry him. Why just yesterday he asked me to help him plan a romantic evening for her!”

They point dramatically at Ariel, standing steadily in the middle of the aisle. The assembled crowd gasps at this new accusation. Kairi swims over to the anchor rope and starts determinedly climbing hand over hand – she’s not sure how she’s going to help once she gets up to the deck, but she does know she has to do  _ something. _

She wouldn’t have been able to do this a few months ago, before their small adventure gone wrong and turned enormous, but Cloud and Vincent are relentless task masters and Kairi has steadily been building the kind of muscle necessary to wield a Keyblade as large as hers effectively, and the kind of agility necessary to meet Vincent’s standards. Even without legs to help her along, she can haul herself up the rope.

Ursula accuses Riku of lying, and as Kairi plants her hands on the railing of the ship and hauls herself into a position where she can see but still dive back into the sea if something goes terribly wrong, a woman in a servant’s uniform steps forward.

“It’s true,” she says, “I work with Riku, I was there. His highness was, begging his pardon of course, absolutely gone on Miss Ariel yesterday. Either he’s cheating on one or both of you, or something fishy is going on.”

“Well, now, these are all serious accusations, ladies-” The officiant babbles, attempting to wrest some control of the situation back. “Although, Madame Vanessa, it does um, sound like the witnesses are not in your favor, um...”

Ursula scoffs and tosses her hair. “There’s no proof of enchantment. Carry on with the wedding, we must be married  _ tonight.” _

“I can prove it,  _ kupo _ ,” Riku says, eyes narrowed, and Kairi has to stifle an absurd giggle at the Mooglish insult. Drawing attention to herself now would be bad – she’s in some shadow, and at the back, but no need to blow the secret of mer-people.

“Little human-” Ursula laughs, a cruel and terrible twist to Ariel’s lovely voice. “-you should get out of my way.”

She starts to gesture, twisting Magic into place, when a plush cat jumps down from one of the flower-covered pillars set up as decoration on the altar and lands in her hair. A small red crab lands on her shoulder and while she wrestles the cat off of her head, Sebastian reaches forward and snips through the cord of her necklace.

The golden, glowing seashell falls to the deck as if in slow motion, and shatters into thousands of glittering shards at Ariel’s feet.

“You-!” Ursula snarls, in her own voice, and Riku drops into a defensive position in front of Ariel, who is surrounded by a flood of golden light. They summon a Keyblade, and Kairi has to grip the railing hard so she doesn’t fall off the boat in surprise.

She’s found Riku, here of all places, and Riku has a Keyblade too.

* * *

“Me.” The silver-haired kid says, smugly, and Vincent has to give them points for style, at least. It’s not the smoothest way to crash a wedding, but it’s certainly worked. Behind the kid, Ariel coughs, gasps, and then smiles, and starts to sing.

All of the assembled guests are frozen at the lovely sound, and the prince in particular seems to have gone into a state of shock – probably some magic backlash, he should snap out of it... yes, there. The prince shakes his head violently, and strides over to the redhead.

“Ariel!” He calls, needlessly loud for how close they are. “Ariel, I’m so sorry, I don’t know what just-”

He is interrupted by a scream of rage from Ursula, who points a finger at Ariel and sends a blast of magic at her. The silver haired kid casts Barrier and manages to reflect it back at her, and it hits her square in the chest.

The sea witch doubles over, and then starts laughing. It starts manic, but just keeps getting deeper and deeper as she straightens up, skin splitting as she returns to her normal form. Eric starts to hurry Ariel out of the line of fire as the kid squares up against Ursula with – hold on, is that a Cait Sith? Vincent squints at the scene in front of him, where the little robot cat is indeed armed with a materia-equipped bangle and a familiar megaphone.

Ursula starts summoning Heartless, and then the whole thing gets significantly more complicated.

“Ariel, over here!” Kairi calls from her perch on the railing, and to Eric’s credit he doesn’t even question it, just draws his sword and stabs any Heartless they come across as clears a path for Ariel towards Kairi.

Who, it turns out, is sitting above one of the lifeboats. Smart kid, Vincent is proud of her.

Eric helps Ariel into the lifeboat, starts to move to let it down into the water, and then hesitates and leans in towards her. “I know this is kind of a bad time, and we should probably talk about this but, that is, um, would you like to-?”

Ariel grins at him and puts her hands on his face to pull him towards her.

“For luck.” She says, and they kiss.

* * *

Kairi has always found the idea of big romantic gestures pretty silly, but watching Ariel and Eric kiss as a battle begins to take shape around them is actually kind of sweet, especially as they’re surrounded by a literal magical glow.

Ursula clearly doesn’t agree, if her cry of rage is anything to go by.

“NO! No, no, how could this happen?! Everything was planned, it wasn’t supposed to  _ happen like this!”  _ The witch screams, and spreads her arms to call more Darkness towards her. Kairi, seeing nothing good coming from this action, summons her Keyblade and uses it to cut the ropes and interrupt Eric and Ariel’s romantic moment by sending Ariel plummeting towards the relative safety of the sea.

Ursla notices her immediately.  _ “Two _ Keybearers?! Here? That shouldn’t even be possible!”

Riku spins around to look, and Kairi makes eye contact with them across the deck. She can read their confusion and disbelieved delight at her appearance in their expression clearly, and is pretty sure she’s making more or less the same face right back.

Unfortunately, she doesn’t really get time to say anything because Ursula is somehow  _ glowing _ with the amount of Dark magic she’s wielding, and is it Kairi’s imagination or- nope, not imagining it, she’s definitely... growing.

The deck of the ship starts to creak ominously under her weight as Ursula grows, and Kairi can distantly hear the screams of the panicked party guests – all of whom, she’s pretty sure, have at least made it to the lifeboats.

By the time Ursula is the size of a large house – actually, about the same size as the Oogie-house-monstrosity had been – she’s slithered off of the ship and started summoning even more Heartless. Riku is holding them off, but Kairi can see that the small ones are just a distraction – the biggest threat, both literally and figuratively, is Ursula herself.

“It doesn’t matter!” Ursula yells, voice much deeper now that she’s so enormous. “Let Triton come, let him try and stop me – the power of Darkness is greater than his little trident!”

A wave of power flows out from her, and Kairi is knocked back into the water as the ship heaves and pitches in a suddenly stormy sea. She turns it into a dive, and surfaces in time to see that Riku and his cat robot – oh, that must be one of Reeve’s Cait Siths! - have also been knocked off of the ship onto a large piece of debris.

She swims over as quickly as she can, cutting through Heartless as she goes. Riku makes it difficult, as they’re jumping between makeshift floating platforms, making their way towards Ursula.

The two of them wind up within range at about the same time, and Kairi can’t believe she’s finally found Riku and this is the first thing she’s going to say to her friend in  _ months _ , but:

“Riku!” she yells, snapping her Keyblade back into one piece, “You hit her high – I’ll go low!”


	22. Sora: Traverse Town

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which coffee is drunk, tales are told, and Sora almost falls asleep.

**More Complex Than You Think**

Dinner in the Highwind house is always busy, especially considering how many people manage to pack into the kitchen and living room of the building at once. Between Cid and the three kids, there's always some project being worked on, a gizmo being tinkered with, and the absence of two of those kids just makes Sora and Cid more anxious, leading to even more half finished or disassembled devices around the place. Sora hauls tight on the wrench, careful to avoid over-tightening or sheering the bolt. Trying to pull this thing apart had been bad enough last time, best make it easier for the next one of them who had to do repairs on the powerhammer this was pulled out of.

"So... You guys mentioned Leon before, but... Cid, all you ever told us when you were telling stories was that he died defending the last World you were at. What was the deal with him saying some kinda prophecy?" The room slows a bit, ears perk up here and there as Cid lets out a sigh, before he carefully puts the tool he was using down.

"Leon... Sheeze you never do ask the easy ones, huh kid? Leon was... Shit, Reeve, you had this the best figured out last time any of us tried to get him to explain, what the hell was his deal?"

Reeve slips into one of the free chairs in the living room, eyeing the debris of the room with care incase of any unforeseen landslides. "I think the best way he ever explained it to me was that he was kind of from the end of time? Or, his time, at least, it never really got any clearer than that. To hear him tell it, he was born... actually, around the same time you were, Sora, give or take. As he grew up, he began to adventure with a group of friends, and wound up fighting some sort of witch that wanted to collapse all of time into a single point."

"I'm not even really clear on if they _won_ , but in the end, time itself was almost irrevocably altered. The last thing he said he remembered was his friend who was also the same type of witch, but maybe also the younger version of- Honestly I'm not even sure he knew what was the deal with her, but she cast some spell, and the next thing he knows, he's in one of the back alleys of Radiant Garden, and the best he can tell, all of his friends would be about five or six, and he should be, but isn’t." Smoke billowing out of the kitchen rapidly dissipates, as Merlin walks out of the aftermath of his teleportation.

"Leon, Leon, that young lad? Good heavens I hadn't thought of him in years... Blasted idiot had some skill for-for-what the devil did he call it, Junctioning, I think it was? Remarkable he even remembers anything of his history, much less the ability to tell it!"

"What was-" Sora's question is quickly cut off by Merlin's placating gesture, as his other hand draws his tea close enough to blow over it.

"Now then, er, where was I? Ah, yes, yes. Sora, m'boy, I know I've taught you this at some point or another, but to better elucidate on this, best go over the basics again. A person, as you know, is all wrapped up in the physical of things, brain, heart, lungs, that sort of mess, but when dealing with Magic, or with what makes you, well, you, all that stuff is just one small part of it. A person is best described as three overall parts, the Body, all that physical stuff and whatnot that you live in, the Heart, which controls the Body, and the Soul, or Mind, depending on how you prefer, where Magic and power come from, and where memories lie.” Merlin pauses to sip his tea before continuing.

“Junctioning, as he described it, was er, was the act of attaching another being's Soul or Heart to yours, granting tremendous power or abilities. Naturally, as with anything nearly so powerful, the tradeoffs are dramatic. Depending on how one's temperament and self align with the being they intend to Junction with, the consequences could be lesser; but universally, the user suffers drastic memory loss. And Leon, with as powerful of spirits as he was Junctioning to, simply remarkable that man could even walk right. He may have had a strong mind, but that of a spirit is dreadfully alien to us - the consequences would have been rather more extreme than the usual. Now, of course, as one would expect from one as desperate as Leon was during that final battle... He supposed, once, that he had nearly junctioned every single spirit he had the help of. Not quite all, he was damned sure of that, but a close thing apparently."

"Then... what happened to him? Did he go down fighting, or did he just... Cid, you never really... What happened. What happened at Radiant Garden?"

Merlin's eye twinkles at this, stern acknowledgement of his apprentice. "Now that, my lad, is a very good question indeed."

* * *

“It was something like, what, a month? Maybe two, if that, after the fuckin’ Planet kicked us all out. One way or another, we all wound up on Radiant Garden, nice place, too many waterfalls to count. I think we hadn’t even been there a few weeks before Leon had turned up. Mighta been Aerith’s fault he even found us, but the idiot certainly wasn’t in any condition to walk out of the place, much less explain how he got there. So bein the bleedin’ hearts we all are, we wind up helping him out. Got him set up in some shitty apartment nearby, all that jazz. Couple of months pass, thing’s are looking good for once, shit, no bullshit about the damn World being in grave danger, it was fuckin’ great. So naturally that went to shit in about thirty seconds.” The stare Cid gives his drink gets drowned out a moment later as he takes a swig of it.

“Place had this huge castle, a marvel, really, simply beautiful architecture. The ruler of Radiant Garden lived there, well liked, always seemed polite on the odd chances I saw him in public. He had a few apprentices that studied under him, doing… hell, who knows what they were even studying originally. The best that we ever pieced together after all this was that his apprentices began to tinker with something beyond their control, something that the ruler would never have approved of. And he finally found out. Apparently one of the apprentices panicked, fearing what he would do to their work, or to them. That… that _bastard_ , whichever one of them it was, turned the results of their experiments loose.” Reeve’s voice shudders at the memories, his hands grip even tighter at his mug. “Whatever they had been doing, they had wound up working on Hearts. And they managed to artificially create Heartless. Never did figure out where they got their subjects from, much less how they hid it. The first thing anyone noticed was when the castle went into lockdown. Then the wall exploded."

“A lucky thing, being as near to Merlin’s as we were. Plenty of wards over the district. Even with them, those horrid beasts still began to tear into the population. We got as many out as we could, but between those they had turned, the panic, and the beasts… Nowhere near as many as I should have liked.”

Barret shakes his head and gives Reeve a friendly slap on the shoulder. “We did _damn_ good man, and you know it, even with all those freakin’ Heartless around. Shit, we even managed to get every last gummi ship that Cid had up and running by the end of that mess. Not that those fuckin’ battleships did us any favors, those bastards almost brought down half the refugees before they could get out. Cloud ‘n Yuffie both took off after Leon towards the worst of the fightin’, lost sight of ‘em a little after that. Ay! Yuffie! Get’cher butt outta the kitchen and remind me what the fuck happened out there!”

“Yea, yea, yea, so- Geeze yea this mess. Leon took off ridiculously fast. That guy could friggin motor. Cloud went after him, and there wasn’t much choice but to make sure _somebody_ with some skills went with them, so off I go too. The castle was a complete mess when we got there, one side of the place just _blown to bits_ , Heartless everywhere, you know the drill. Cloud had been socketing Materia like it was going out of style, but Leon just ran. He made it up to the front gate by the time we got there, but… Well, there’s the thing. I never really did find out what happened up there. There was a scream, and a flash of light, and next thing I know, Leon is blazing by me back towards where the refugees were. Amazing ninja that I am, I could barely keep up with him visually. No way no how either of us were catching up to him. Blazing’s a literal descriptor there too, he was _glowing_ . Whatever he was doing, _preeeeetty sure_ he would have actually caught fire if he stopped.

“I can jump pretty high, Cloud can jump _stupid high_ , but Leon was just freaking gone. There one second, in the middle of the big-ass Heartless battleships the next. And then there was light. And by the time my eyes cleared, the battleships were gone, and so was Leon. We never saw him after that, and there was nothing we could do to stop Radiant Garden from falling. Barret pulled up in a Gummi not long after, and well… Here we are.”

* * *

The evening ends quietly enough: Barret heading back home to check in on Marlene, Yuffie dead asleep on the couch, Reeve likewise in a chair next to her. Merlin has long since returned home to Camelot.

Sora and Cid sit, barely awake, at the kitchen table, the tracker for locating Pongo and Perdita’s puppies between them. Trying to lock onto the World signature of a bunch of shards once the World has fallen is one thing, but trying to find one small part of an extant world is exponentially harder. Circuits are passed back and forth, soldering gear and screw drivers switch hands smoothly. Agrabah had been the worst of the pain Sora had felt, the wound fresh in the World’s heart, and trinkets emblematic of the world had been easy to come by in the markets. One such trinket, a small necklace, lays within the core of the tracker, the glint of gemstones hidden away by layers of metal and circuitry.

Cid’s about to head to bed when the device pings, at the same moment as Sora’s heart feels the pain. The pain as a World screams into the void, the light at its core ripped away. In the distance, another World falls, and the time they have left before the threat of Maleficent and her mission is complete grows ever shorter.

* * *

He packs his bags as Cid wakes the others back up. The tracker keeps its steady ping in the kitchen downstairs, waiting to be backed into a bag of its own. Armor, spare parts, his, Riku, and Kairi’s entire Materia collections into their own appropriate bags, ready and accessible to be passed off with ease when the time comes. Yuffie yawns into her coffee as she manages to pack ridiculously large shuriken into a bag about the size of a Cait Sith. Reeve pats him on the back, handing off a data stick for updating the Cait Sith that Riku’s traveling with. Better odds Sora would run into them before Reeve did, after all. Packing the Gummi ship is almost trivial when you can use Merlin’s packing spell, but it still takes long enough for Barret to roll up with his serious business gear attached, a bag slung into the kitchen area of the ship with a heavy thunk, filled to the brim with ammunition and potions.

Reeve gives a thumbs up from the ground, as he waits for his Cait Siths to finish prep work on the second heavy lifter. Lift off is silent, determined, grim. Three warriors of one world, and one of three from another, heading into the darkness… to bring forth the light.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry we're late folks, linear time falls apart around the holidays. In theory we're back on schedule now. - L


	23. Riku: MediuM Sized Bronco

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Riku and Kairi fight a giant octopus, and then put some puzzle pieces together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Should be back on schedule" WHOOPS turns out L lied. Life kind of got away from both of us. It's also looking like it'll continue to do that, plus we're coming up on endgame, so I'm taking the update-regularly promise out of the summary. I promise this doesn't mean we're abandoning anything - we just gotta make sure some pieces line up right, and we've been out of buffer for a while now so in the interest of not breaking the plot OR either of our brains as we do life and work things, things will move a little slower.  
> Thanks for your patience, hope y'all enjoy this good good reunion chapter! -H

**Now I Swear It's Just Begun**

_ Kairi’s here she’s safe they’re both okay Kairi has a fish tail but that’s fine she’s okay Kairi Kairi _ Riku’s brain babbles at them, which is really terrible timing because what it  _ should _ be worried about is the way the sea witch – Ursula, Ariel had said her name was – hasn’t stopped growing yet. They manage to gather most of their wits together at Cait Sith’s warning shout, and jump out of the way as she smashes one enormous tentacle down where they had just been.

From there, it’s a matter of hopping between floating pieces of wreckage towards Ursula and trying their best not to fall in. They can swim, of course, every kid who grew up in Destiny Isles could, but the pants they’re wearing at the moment would hamper them quite a bit in the water, and continue to do so out of it if they were to get too wet.

Kairi yells at them to go high, which isn’t the usual game plan at all, but Riku supposes it makes sense since she seems to be the most optimized for the water at the moment. They jump forward, pushing off one of Ursula’s tentacles by slamming into it with their Keyblade as they go to gain some more height. Ursula’s eyes are just about as big as Riku themself, and they’re absolutely crazed with Dark magic as she tracks their progress through the air.

A crackle of Dark magic heralds her attack, but Kairi hits underwater with whatever she’d had planned, and she hits  _ hard. _ Riku isn’t surprised to see Ursula jerk in surprise and flinch backwards, which gives them the exact opening they need to slam their Keyblade into the side of her head. As they start to fall backwards, they cast Reflect, and which catches the backlash of Ursula’s failed spell and sends it snapping back to her twofold. She roars in pain.

Riku lands in a roll, and pops up on their feet right next to Cait Sith, which gives them a cat-smile, whiskers pushed forwards, and a pat on the knee. “Nae bad! Nice teamwork ye’ve got there, so it is!”

Kairi pops up, treading water next to the piece of debris that Riku and Cait Sith are standing on. “That went well! Hi Riku, I’m so glad you’re okay.”

Riku returns her sunny smile with a smaller one of their own. “Me too,  _ kupo. _ Let’s take her down quickly so this is a better reunion.”

“Sounds good to me!” Kairi chirps, and then adds in Mooglish, _ “I think if we can keep getting her magic to backlash like that, we should be able to finish her off with a couple big hits.” _

Riku nods, and holds out a fist. “Let’s do it then. Cait Sith can keep an eye on health so we can concentrate on the hitting.”

Kairi surges up in the water to tap her fist against theirs, turning it into an elegant dive back into the water. Riku watches the flashes of her tail as she makes a beeline for Ursula, and starts jumping and running around behind her while the witch is distracted.

If they time it right, they’re pretty sure they can get her on the other ear, which should knock out her sense of balance.

* * *

“ _ Why will this octopus not go down?!” _ Kairi demands in Mooglish, simultaneously ages and no time at all later.

Riku, who has no real answer for her and is pretty well out of magic at this point, starts to respond with a platitude in the same language when they’re interrupted by a shout of warning from a familiar voice.

They look up to see a determined Eric at the wheel of a ship that looks like it sunk several decades ago. Ribbons of seaweed hang off of half-broken railings, and the few scraps of sail that haven’t rotted away completely are green and slimy. Ariel stands at the prow, leaning forwards like a figurehead. Her red hair streams behind her, and the fierce look on her face and glint in her eyes make her look like something out of the stories the old sailors back home used to tell, the ones full of warnings.

She opens her mouth and starts to sing, and all the hairs on Riku’s arms go up as she harmonizes with the music that’s been just on the edge of their hearing. The music gets louder, coming from underwater, and suddenly six more mermaids surround the battlefield, voices high and sharp and dangerous.

And full of magic, Riku realizes, scrambling to get out of the way of the ancient battleship as it plows through the wreckage of the beautiful wedding barge. The wreck is missing half of its hull, but it’s cutting through the water as sure as anything, headed straight for Ursula.

The prince’s aim is very good: Ursula howls as the bowsprit strikes true, Ariel hurrying back to collect Eric and dive into the water with him as the ship makes contact and starts to disintegrate around the two of them.

Riku and Kairi exchange glances. Riku twirls their Keyblade into place, Kairi just shifts her grip a little and nods. The two of them charge towards where Ursula is flailing, tentacles going every which way, and swing as one.

There is a burst of light, and then everything as calm, only the floating wreckage and a few glittering objects among the debris left as evidence there had ever been anything amiss.

* * *

Ariel’s sisters swim them all back to shore while they sit on the largest piece of the wreckage. Kairi is on board with all the two-legged humans, partly because she and Riku are refusing to let go of each other, and partly because she’s also completely exhausted. It’s well into the small hours of the morning by the time they make it to shore, and Ariel’s sisters leave with promises to return in the morning and introduce themselves to their brother-in-law-to-be properly.

“Well,” Ariel says, hands on her hips as she stands on the beach, and pauses for a moment to enjoy being  _ able _ to say something and have everyone turn to look at her. “Shall we head back to the palace?”

Riku looks guiltily back and forth between the short walk to the palace steps and Kairi, and oh Ariel could smack herself for not thinking of it. She’d seen how upset Kairi was about not being able to find her friends – to ask them to separate so soon after reuniting is a lot, even if what both kids need is sleep. “... Eric, dear?” she finishes, a bit belatedly, and smiles at how both Kairi and Riku slump in relief.

Eric is practically asleep on his feet, and in no state to argue with her, and she bustles him off to the palace, leaving Riku and Kairi to the strange, magical creature she learned was called a ‘cat’ her first day on land.

Figuring out what happens next can wait until sunrise. Or perhaps even noon. It’s been quite a day.

* * *

“Well, then,” Cait Sith says as they look down at the sleeping kids. Kairi’s lower half is in a tidal pool, her torso on the dry sand beyond the tideline next to where Riku is curled up protectively around her. “It’s nice ta see ya again, Mr. Valentine. Ah’ll just go an’ be there ta tell the others where Riku is so no one panics in the mornin’, shall ah?”

Vincent, for lack of anything better to say, nods, and the little robot cat is gone before he remembers to ask who the others are.

Oh well, Reeve is a bit flighty but his Cait Siths are generally pretty reliable. It’s probably fine.

* * *

“CLOUD  _ CUMULONIMBUS  _ STRIFE,” a familiar voice breaks the relative quiet of the morning. “WHAT MADE YOU THINK THIS COULD POSSIBLY BE FINE?”

Cloud, awoken by the shouting, finds himself instinctively puffing up in defense. It does absolutely nothing to help him as a calloused hand strikes unerringly, snatching him out of the tide pool heedless of his spikes. He finds himself face to face with a glaring Tifa Lockhart.

It is an experience Cloud has had before, although admittedly not as a fish. Awaking to an angry Tifa is something best avoided, and most of her enemies (and friends) learn this very quickly. And although Cloud is, clearly, one of the dumber people in the universe for not yet getting to the point where this doesn’t happen to him, he isn’t completely stupid and he has learned a few things.

He instantly deflates, spitting out the water stretching his stomach, so that he can readily admit: “Nothing, I wasn’t thinking, sorry.”

“Of course you weren’t! You never do!” Tifa says, completely ignoring the water running down her arm. “Your mother would be ashamed of you!”

“Hey!” Cloud objects, and then adds, because he’s still not sure what he’s getting yelled at for “Ashamed of me for what?”

Tifa gestures towards Riku and Kairi, who are only just starting to stir at the continued raised voices. “Letting children sleep outside? On the  _ beach _ ? Shiva’s tit, this is why I never left you overnight as Denzel and Marlene’s only caretaker.”

“Well, what was I supposed to do? One of them’s currently  _ half fish _ , Tifa, she can’t exactly sleep indoors, and it’s not like the other one could sleep in the ocean.”

“You were suppo- actually, no that’s a good point.” Tifa says, softening.

“Are you done shouting now?” asks an orange house cat, padding down the beach on all fours next to Cait Sith, which is walking normally. “Hello again, Cloud, Vincent.”

_ Good morning, Nanaki _ says Vincent, and Cloud almost falls out of Tifa’s hand trying to hold back his giggles because now that Vincent has pointed it out, he can see the way Nanaki holds himself, all power and mystery, attempting to pack itself down into this much tinier package, and it’s hilarious.  _ Tifa, I believe you should put Cloud back now, so he can continue breathing. _

“Right, sorry,” Tifa says, and sets him back in the tide pool, sitting down as she does so. Seeing Riku and Kairi waking up, she tacks on, “Good morning, kiddos. Sorry about the yelling.”

“S’fine,” Riku says around a yawn, sitting up awkwardly. Sand falls out of silver hair as the poor kid runs a hand through it with a grimace.

Kairi, who is facing the morning with much less grace than her friend, just groans and lets herself slide backwards into the tide pool. It’s not the biggest, and she has to curl a little awkwardly to get all of herself underwater, disturbing a couple of sea stars as she does so.

With this resettling taken care of, everyone falls quiet. It’s actually pleasant, Cloud reflects, looking up at the sky, which is still a little pink from the sunrise.

“So,” Nanaki says into the silence. “Where’ve you been for the last few years, Cloud?”

Well, Cloud thinks as Tifa – reminded of the original reason she’s been wandering the Worlds – turns her glare on him once again, it was nice while it lasted.

* * *

By the time Kairi surfaces, Tifa is mostly done yelling at Cloud for his poor life choices and has moved on to making fun of his current form as a pufferfish – Zack joins in enthusiastically – and Riku has mostly gotten over his instinctive panic at watching his friend remain underwater for so long.

At first it had seemed almost normal – even though she learned to swim the latest of the three of them, Kairi was always the one who loved diving for undersea treasures, and as a result had put in a lot of time practicing holding her breath (practice which was gleefully encouraged by Yuffie, when there were no more crystal clear waters to explore, as being ‘a totally awesome and essential ninja skill!’). But Riku, looking down through the surface of the tidepool, could  _ see her breathing _ without air, and that was somehow a shade too far. He’d wound up focusing on the adults instead.

“ _ Hey sleepy,”  _ he greets Kairi in Mooglish, and gets an exaggerated yawn in return. Kairi hauls herself up onto the rocks that surround the tidepool, folding her tail in such a way that it mostly supports her so she can sit leaning against Riku’s shoulder.

“ _ Mornin’ Riku. What’d I miss?” _

Riku shrugs and waves a hand towards where the adults are still kind of bickering. Nanaki and Vincent sit off to the side, Nanaki’s tail swishing back in amusement.  _ “That’s pretty much been going on since you decided it was still sleep time.” _

She gives him an unimpressed look, which Riku is pretty sure she stole straight from her dad back on the Isles.  _ “I figured  _ that _ , dummy. I meant, how have you been for the past... um... actually I have no idea how long it’s been since we last saw each other.” _

“ _ You know what Reeve used to say about relative time across Worlds and all and-”  _ Riku falters as Kairi’s unimpressed look starts to become a frown.  _ Kupo, _ he’s forgotten what it’s like to have a friend around who can read him so well, who know exactly when he’s stalling and won’t stand for it. He sighs.  _ “Sora thinks it was about six months, and I saw him a few weeks ago, so… seven months, now, I guess?” _

“ _ You saw Sora?!”  _ Kairi demands, shoving him hard in the shoulder.  _ “You could have mentioned that first! How is he? Why isn’t he with you? Wait, but also tell me about what you’ve been doing!” _

Riku can’t help it. He bursts out laughing.

“ _ Same old Kairi,”  _ he snickers, wiping tears of mirth from the corners of his eyes.  _ “Never content with just one question, hunting your answers like a shark.” _

“ _ Yeah yeah yeah. Just tell me how you’ve both been, okay? I’ve been worried.” _

Riku sobers at the sad smile on Kairi’s face. He reaches out and grabs her hand.  _ “Hey, I know. Me too, I know. Okay, but you have to tell me what you’ve been doing too, yeah?” _

She squeezes back, and shakily agrees. Riku opens his mouth to start talking, but is interrupted by Tifa scooping Kairi into a bridal carry.

“Alright, kiddos,” she says, “Sun’s all the way up now, Heartless problem for the World is sorted out, time to clear out of the beach and let the local royalty figure out what they’re gonna tell everyone about yesterday.”

“Clear out to where?” Riku asks, scrambling to his feet. Cait Sith makes a meaningful little humming noise, and he looks down to see the cat robot pointing at where Cloud-the-fish is still in the tidal pool. Some quick digging in his backpack later, Riku comes up with a waterproof bag that will fit Cloud okay if he takes out the spare potions he usually keeps in it, as a spill prevention method.

Somehow Cloud manages to radiate indignity from his puffer fish face, but he lets Riku scoop up both him and a good deal of sea water before jogging down the beach to catch up to Tifa, as she strides towards where they’d hidden the  _ Medium Sized Bronco. _

* * *

Nanaki breathes a sigh of relief as he enters the gummi ship and is returned to his normal, and much preferred, size and shape. Riku, just behind him, stops abruptly just short of the threshold. Why this choice was made quickly becomes apparent as he reaches into the bag of water he’s carrying and pulls out Cloud, who he gently tosses through the door.

A pufferfish flies through the air, and 170 centimeters of slightly-damp blond lands on his ass in the  _ Medium Sized Bronco _ ’s entryway. 

Riku clambers in after him, and is immediately nearly tackled back out of the ship by Kairi’s enthusiastic hug, now that she once again has legs to stand on and launch herself with. Nanaki swishes his tail, reminded of Riku’s other friend’s similar exuberance and pleased by it. Cid had chosen some good cubs, to care so deeply for each other. 

They would make a fine pack someday, and in the meantime, he would leave them to comfort each other in Mooglish.

“So,” Tifa says into the silence as everyone politely ignores the stream of  _ kupokupokupo _ coming from the cubs. “Breakfast?”

* * *

Once Kairi is finished hugging him to death, she pokes him firmly on the shoulder and asks, meaningfully,  _ “So, what happened after the witch?” _

Riku tells her about Wonderland, about running through collapsing woods as the World fell – and maybe he skips a bit to when Tifa and Nanaki and Cait Sith had arrived – about hopping through fragments of broken Worlds and learning to use his Keyblade. He describes the truly awful squishy feeling of Monstro’s tongue under his boots, the smells of the Bayou as experienced through a salamander’s nose. How much he and Sora had cried on each other when they finally met again in Neverland, and the fear that had come with the bubbling sense of power before  _ something _ took over. 

Kairi holds his hand through all of it, then hugs him and makes him tell her at least the highlights of what Sora’s been up to, and why they split up again. And then she tells him what she’s been doing for the past half of a year, about waking up to Vincent’s knock in her mind, training in the Underworld. She shows him the charm she made out of an Ice Titan’s rib, and the ribbon bracelet sourced from one of Princess Jasmine’s ripped skirts. 

“So,” Kairi says, switching out of Mooglish because now it’s time to let the adults in. Riku is familiar with this tactic - the three of them would drive Cid crazy constructing seven eighths of a plan before asking his opinion on a conversation he hadn’t understood most of. “WE gotta seal the keyhole and all so the Heartless will stop coming in, but - what was this thing about princesses?”

“Apparently, Maleficent was looking for them? And that’s why she took you - I don’t know, Sora was going to investigate that…” Riku says, uncertain.

Vincent, however, is suddenly right by the two of them, eyes narrowed as he puts together some pieces. “Ursula was talking about the princesses - Ariel’s sisters. How there were seven of them, and not a single ‘true Light.’ She mentioned this Maleficent, too.” 

“That’s… worrying.” Tifa says, frowning. “When we saw her on Neverland, when she came for Wendy - she was frustrated because she was close to having enough princesses. Maybe she’s getting desperate.”

“Riku was able to find where Kairi would be by following a sense of Light.” Nanaki muses. 

“Maybe he can find the others, then?” Zack suggests, floating over Cloud’s head in deference to the limited space in the  _ Medium Sized Bronco _ ’s cabin. “If there’s a limited supply, and this lady’s gathered a bunch in one place, it shouldn’t be too hard to figure out which place that is, right?”

“I… guess,  _ kupo? _ ” Riku says, dubiously, but Kairi is standing right next to him, radiating the same kind of bright familiarity that Alice had had, only a thousand times stronger because he’s known her for so long, they’re already so connected - how did he wander across Worlds and fail to figure out what direction she was in before, now that he knows what it feels like?

Concentrating now, he tries to think around Kairi’s brilliant presence and find something similar, out there in the Worlds. The impression of lights, dimmed like sleeping fireflies, cluster far away - and between him and it, something firey and alight with indignity. 

Riku opens his eyes to realize that he’s wandered over to the navigation console of the gummi ship. Perfect. He boots up the map and tries to think through the traces of patterns in his head and how they might translate into actual space. The lone light is tricky - nothing is on the map, so he just notes the impression in the empty space where a World  _ might _ be - but the cluster is surprisingly easy to find.

“There,” he says, pointing at a fallen World not too far from Traverse Town. “They’re all there, except Kairi and one other.”

He clicks the switch to send the map spreading out around the room, so that everyone can see the world he’s marked. 

_ Hollow Bastion. _

* * *

They fly out to what Vincent is pretty sure is the right part of the ocean and let Cloud and Kairi and the ghosts out to seal the World’s Keyhole which is, inconveniently enough, underwater. Since Kairi can actually make it to the sea floor in the guise the gummi ship transformation magic gives her, and wield a keyblade besides, they’ve decided to split up. Riku, Tifa, Nanaki, and Cait Sith will go find the last Light, whoever it is, and make sure they’re safe. Kairi will seal the Keyhole, and then take  _ Fenrir _ to Traverse Town to pick up Sora, and they’ll all meet at Hollow Bastion to help the rest of the Lights. 

Kairi dives gracefully into the water, legs shifting into a tail as she leaves the  _ Medium Sized Bronco _ . Cloud is much more resigned about it, simply sighing and stepping out over empty air and allowing himself, now a fish, to plummet into the waves. 

“Oh!” Kairi says as she surfaces, scrambling for something in the bag at her side. “Riku, I almost forgot!”

She stretches her arm up towards the gummi ship, and Riku crouches and leans down to reach out and accept the charm she passes him. Tifa catches a glimpse of pale blue shells carefully tied together before Riku closes his hand protectively around it, looking deeply touched. 

“Keep it safe, okay?” Kairi demands, serious, and then a smile spreads over her face. “So you can come home safely.”

“I will.” Riku promises, “See you in Hollow Bastion!”

With one last wave, Kairi dives beneath the waves. 

“C’mon, kid,” Tifa says, a little gruffly. “Let’s head out and find that maybe-princess..”

Riku accepts the hand ruffling his hair with good grace as he passes by her towards the cockpit. “Here we go,  _ kupo. _ ”


	24. Kairi: Hollow Bastion (pt 1)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Kairi closes a Keyhole, and Vincent tells a story.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So. We're still here, this fic's not dead - actually we may have more time for it now, due to y'know, the Circumstances providing us with some more indoor time.  
> L's back home with our parents, I'm still over the ocean but working from home (also: moving across town soon, hopefully!), we're all doing pretty fine.
> 
> Hope you're all well. I think the world could probably use a little more fluff than we're about to provide as we get into endgame, but may you have a nice time anyway! -H

**Gosh, It Disturbs Me**

It takes a little longer than Kairi had thought, sealing the Keyhole, since Triton is off-world and apparently his magic trident opened the easy way in. Actually, it takes two days. But in the end, a Keyblade is a Keyblade, and with Ariel and her sisters’ help, Kairi figures out an entrance and unlocks a door so she can lock a Keyhole. There’s something even more dramatic about it than usual, down here in the deep where natural light doesn’t really ever reach. 

Still, not long after they all heard the echoing  _ click _ that signaled a halt to Atlantica’s Heartless problem, they’re back where they left  _ Fenrir _ hovering hidden above the water. It’s a good five to ten feet up, Kairi thinks, which may as well be a hundred feet for all the good it’s going to do her. 

“How... how do we get back up,  _ kupo? _ ” she asks, frowning up at the flaw everyone had overlooked in this ‘seal the Keyhole and then head out immediately’ plan: Vincent and Zack are incorporeal and can’t help; she and Cloud haven’t got legs. 

Cloud sighs, shrinking a little with as he expels water (did he puff up halfway for dramatic effect? Kairi’s been travelling with him for months now, and while he  _ claims _ to dislike drama, well, Kairi wouldn’t put it past him to do so). Sounding resigned to this newest indignity, he offers, “You can probably throw me, the way Riku did, into the door, and then I can bring it down far enough for you or find a rope or something.”

Zack immediately falls over backwards laughing, and although Vincent manages to keep his poker face through this suggestion, he does crack a tiny smile when it takes Kairi three tries to figure out the trick of jumping just far enough out of the water that the waves don’t get in the way of her throw. 

They make it eventually; Kairi’s gonna count it as a win.

* * *

Cloud is, mysteriously, instantly dry upon entering  _ Fenrir _ , but Kairi isn’t. Gummi magic is weird, Cloud is pretty sure. He’s not a magical expert or anything, but he knows from weird, and watching Kairi grumpily towel her hair dry so it gets fluffy and a little dandelion-like while Cloud himself didn’t get a single drop of seawater on the floor is weird. 

Unable to resist, he ruffles Kairi’s hair, messing it up even more, as he gives her a gentle push out of the cockpit. “Go get changed into something dry, yeah? We can chart a course to Traverse in the meantime.”

She grumbles something in Mooglish at him, but goes, and Cloud settles himself temporarily in the navigation seat – cobbled together navigation gummis kindly provided by Riku and Tifa – to figure out their path. Vincent will take this job over when they’re out between Worlds, but while the ex-Turk can  _ monitor _ screens he can’t exactly  _ program _ them without a body. Kairi will have to pilot most of the way there, and for any emergencies, but with the gummis they’d found around Atlantica and the mad-engineering genius of two kids raised by Cid and some Moogles with occasional drop-in lessons on circuitry from Reeve, they’d managed to put together a rudimentary auto-pilot for longer journeys. 

By the time Kairi comes back, dressed in the leggings-and-shorts combination Meg had dressed her in for the tournament at the Coliseum (now with more pockets, because Kairi had aggressively stitched in extra material as soon as she’d had a chance to sit down and do so) and a light purple tank top she’d worn a lot in Agrabah, Cloud has figured out the path that seems least likely to get them killed, given  _ Fenrir _ ’s minimal shielding.

Two hours into the trip, the usual shitty Strife luck catches up with them, in the form of an absolutely enormous Heartless battleship. Kairi does her best to dodge, while Cloud does  _ his _ best to shoot out all the guns on the damn thing and Vincent very calmly reads out the scan gummi output and informs them of their dwindling shields whenever Kairi doesn’t manage to twist out of the way in time.

After a particularly brutal shot clips  _ Fenrir _ ’s wing and sends them into a spin, Kairi lets out a frustrated snarl and snaps something in Mooglish, pulling them out of the spin and around the back of the battleship, where Cloud immediately opens fire again.

_ We’re wearing it down, _ Vincent says, but Cloud knows it’s not enough; they’re getting worn down much faster. He’s not sure if it’s his own terrible luck or some kind of cosmic irony following Vincent like a dog with a bone to blame for what happens next. 

As Kairi swings  _ Fenrir _ back towards the side of the Heartless ship, there’s a crackle of something bright and dark all at once before suddenly the battleship just implodes, collapsing in on itself to a ball of Dark energy, which is seized in a huge, clawed hand and devoured by something with very sharp teeth. Worryingly familiar teeth, at that.

“Vincent,” Cloud asks, and is pleased to find that his voice is level as he looks out the window of the gummi ship and into the larger-than-usual eyes of Chaos, “what the fuck is happening here?”

Chaos looks directly at them, yellow eyes bright, for just a moment before winking and vanishing in that same weird cracke of energy. 

_ I have no idea, _ Vincent says quietly, a small frown on his face that Cloud knows he feels truly thrown off his game.  _ I thought they were all- all gone. _

“Who was gone?” Kairi demands, spinning her chair dramatically to look at both of them at once, now that the danger is, seemingly, over. “ _ Kupo _ , what  _ was _ that?”

Vincent sighs.  _ I suppose I should probably explain, if it turns out any of them are still around... But how to start? _

_ From the beginning, maybe? _ Zack suggests, and Cloud rolls his eyes because really, the beginning is decades ago and maybe not so relevant, mostly.

“Start with Hojo,” he says instead, because honestly everything always did seem to start with the slimy scientist.

_ Very well. So, you’re all aware that I’m without a body, but not actually dead. However, this is not strictly true. I did die once, and Hojo brought me back by fusing four demons to my very being... _

* * *

When the Heartless came to their world, the Planet did what it always did in the face of an attack and called on its heros while gearing up to self-destruct if they didn’t manage to fix things in time. Unfortunately for everyone, the Heartless weren’t really the same class of problem as the Planet and its inhabitants were used to dealing with. They started small: people disappearing off the streets in the night was nothing new in Midgar, and new monsters popping up was par for the course everywhere. But things accelerated quickly, and as the Heartless started going after stronger prey, people started to realize that fighting back was going to be a little more complicated than usual. Physical attacks did nothing against the living shadows, and you had to pour in a lot more magic than the average person had access to in order to drive them off, much less destroy them. Once the news broke that if one got you, you died screaming and another one of the monsters rose in your place, panic had well and truly set in.

It was a bit like Geostigma, crossed with the worst zombie movies that Yuffie and Denzel liked to marathon, in the end.

The former heroes of the Planet had done what they could, gathering everyone that they could and shoving as much magic as they could into every hit. It still wasn’t enough, though, and they lost more and more every day. Nanaki swore he could hear the Planet screaming in indignation, but all anyone else felt was upset and uneasy. 

At least until the day the sky started to glow Lifestream green, and the Weapons emerged from their slumber, crushing the Heartless as they shook off the glittering crystal remnants of their mako cocoons.

Every sentient being on the World, simultaneously, caught the smell of fresh flowers and heard the Planet speak in Aerith’s voice. 

_ You must go to the stars. Holy comes. Omega follows. _

“Well, fuck.” said Cid, staring up at the glowing lines in the sky for a long moment before bursting into motion, sprinting towards the hangers with the rockets he’d been building with every engineer who was out of a job but not overtly evil when Shinra had collapsed, hollering at Reeve to get his ass into gear.

Tifa and Barret shuffled off quickly to organize refugees, dragging a protesting Yuffie behind them. 

Cloud, Vincent, and Nanaki just looked at each other for a long, slow moment. 

“Are the Weapons going to buy enough time?” Cloud asked the guardian, who hesitated before shaking his muzzle regretfully. 

Vincent stared out at the flood of Heartless amassing on the plains outside Midgar, and did the mental math. The numbers were displeasing, but…

“Hold onto this for me,” he said, unclasping his cloak and shoving it in Cloud’s general direction. “I’ll try to be back for the launch but -”

_ -leave without me _ remains unspoken. Cloud nodded seriously anyway, bundling the cloak into his arms. 

* * *

Vincent stood in front of the oncoming tide of living shadows, watching as they formed one swirling pillar of darkness, and holstered Cerberus. Opening his arms, he braced himself as the pillar flew at him, snarling through the pain as he allowed it to hit. Let it wear down his Limit. He didn’t really bleed anymore, but something trickled from his forehead anyway as he narrowed glowing red eyes at the sea of wide and blank yellow ones. 

_ This is rather more self-destructive than your usual stupid ideas _ , Chaos whispered in his mind, and Vincent ignored him because it didn’t have to be a good idea, it just had to buy enough time for the rockets to take off, for the Planet to actually cast Holy, for everyone who could to make it out. 

The transformation into Galian Beast was faster than usual, and the creature howled as it tore through the pillar of Heartless and deeper into the plains teaming with Shadows. Vincent was usually unaware of what happened during his transformations, but something about this one was different and he felt the strange nothingness of the Heartless against his teeth as Galian ripped them in half. 

Eventually, he folded back in on himself and nearly tripped over his own feet at the strange, unbalanced feeling: Galian was gone, entirely  _ gone _ , and Chaos said quietly in his head  _ I did tell you. _

Vincent grit his teeth, faced down an enormous Darkside, and brought out Death Gigas. The same thing happened, and again with Hellmasker. The loss of both actually did cause Vincent to trip, staggering at the strange new feeling and only barely catching himself before smashing his face into the dirt.

_ You will fail. We cannot help you here.  _ Chaos insisted, as Vincent stood up again.

_ Are you Omega’s herald or not?  _ Vincent demanded in his head, and shoved at his Limit as hard as he could until Chaos manifested. 

* * *

_ Well that explains a lot about Cloudy’s wardrobe at least!  _ Zack announces into the silence that falls once Vincent awkwardly closes his story.  _ I never thought I’d see him in such a bright color... _

Cloud rolls his eyes at Zack’s dramatic gesturing towards Vincent’s cloak, but internally he has to admit that the ghost probably has the right idea – Kairi had been looking kind of shakey, hearing about the absolute disaster of the Planet’s final hours and how it had lead to Vincent’s not-death, but the levity is helping. She steadies, and the ship picks up a little more speed as she stops splitting her focus between so many things. 

“So, yeah,” Cloud says, because someone needs to sum up and it’s clearly not going to be Vincent, who has exhausted his words for the time being. Damn, where’s Yuffie when you need her to chatter? “Vincent died, and Hojo stuffed him full of monsters, and then the Heartless came and... yanked them back out.”

_ But you can’t die twice!  _ Zack says, pointing friendly finger-guns at Vincent, who is pretending to ignore the other ghost.  _ Or, well, that’s what Aerith says, anyway. You have to get born again first, you can’t just get... pulled out of the Lifestream like that, and expect to jump back in no problems. The cycle of Life is actually kind of a finicky process, it can’t handle that. _

“Well that’s all... super weird,  _ kupo, _ but I’m glad it worked and you guys made it here.” Kairi says, eyes a little shiny with unshed tears but focused on the path ahead. “Does- does that mean Vincent is stuck as a ghost forever?”

_ I don’t know,  _ Vincent tells her gently,  _ I thought my demons- they were my penance. The weight of my sins that I couldn’t sleep off and avoid, keeping my being tethered to my body so I could make amends. But they’re gone, and I’m still here even without a body. Maybe I still have amends to make. _

“Or maybe you can just be you!” Kairi yells, startling Cloud with her intensity. “Maybe it doesn’t have to be self-sacrifice, maybe you don’t have to make up for it.  _ Kupo-  _ Vincent, I was  _ drowning in my own Heart _ and you dived in to help me, with no idea who I was or if it would work. I don’t believe you would deserve to- to not get to be a person just because of a few mistakes  _ decades _ ago!”

She’s crying now, but her hands are still steady on  _ Fenrir’s _ controls. Cloud, at Zack’s frantic miming prompts in the background, gingerly edges into her space and opens his arms. Kairi sobs once, then flips the switch to turn on the autopilot setting and practically flings herself into the hug. 

It’s so easy to forget, sometimes, watching her demolish the Heartless and wade into other Worlds’ problems with a smile and a can-do attitude, but she’s only thirteen, hasn’t even wielded a Keyblade for a year. It’s easy to forget he’s only been teaching her for months, not years, and that they met because she was stranded after a gummi ship crash and then kidnapped by a crazy witch and knocked into a magical coma for a month. 

Cloud tightens his arms around her and lets her sob. The ghosts can’t touch either of them, but they hover near enough that everyone can kind of pretend. They stay like that for forever, and no time at all, until the cobbled-together autopilot beeps to let them know they’ve arrived. 

Hollow Bastion looms through the screen, watery and cold, and Kairi dries her eyes on Vincent’s cloak and sits back down to land them safely.

* * *

They’ve barely even made it to the Castle when Kairi spots a heart-stoppingly familiar shock of spiky brown hair.

“SORA!” Kairi yells, and sprints forward to launch herself through the air towards the other teen. He catches her, clumsily, and they wobble awkwardly from foot to foot as they spin with the momentum left over from her crashing into him. 

“Kairi! You’re okay,  _ kupo!  _ Wait, why are you here?” Sora asks, confusion briefly flickering over his face, which is otherwise occupied with a huge smile. 

“What? Didn’t Riku tell you when they picked you up?” Kairi asks, frowning. In the background, Cloud and the ghosts have caught up to her and are introducing themselves to the dog and duck who seem to be accompanying Sora. “We have to go find the other Lights, the princesses, whatever, Maleficient-”

“-is collecting them for something big, yeah, that’s why she wanted you, but-” Sora continues her line of thought automatically before catching on something and freezing. 

“Kairi,” he says slowly, still holding her tight in an embrace. “What do you mean ‘when Riku picked me up’?”

Kairi freezes too, and then explodes into motion, shoving Sora away to hold him at arms length and stare at him with barely-concealed panic. “Riku’s not here? Then why are you even- they were supposed to get you, from Traverse, that was the plan that was-  _ kupo, kupo,  _ Sora,  _ where’s Riku?”  _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Any guesses? :D


End file.
